The Group took as the starting point for its deliberations the GSPC Report particularly para 149 describing the RCFS as recommended by them. The Group discussed each element of the RCFS mentioned in this paragraph, identified the rationale for the element, analysed the experience with this element during the last year or so, debated the continued relevance of this element, and deliberated on the desirability of retaining the item or of modifying or eliminating it.

The Group also discussed various additional or alternative safeguards that have been proposed to improve the RCFS. While much of the debate on the RCFS in the financial press and elsewhere has been couched in terms of badla versus futures/options, the Group consciously avoided any such flavour in its discussions and its recommendations. The Group focused instead on the regulatory issues posed by carry forward trading and concentrated on the measures that are needed to achieve important regulatory goals like market efficiency, financial integrity, investor protection and regulatory compliance.

The Group benefited from written and oral presentations by a number of individuals and organizations enumerated in Annexure 1. The Group held three meetings (on May 6, 1997, June 20, 1997 and July 22, 1997) at the SEBI Head Office in Mumbai. Apart from these two meetings, the members of the Group communicated with each other by telephone, fax, email and courier.