MCX is primarily a venue to trade gold, silver, crude oil and base metal futures contract in India, a leading importer of these commodities.

Trading, which usually starts at 0330 GMT, was delayed to 0730 GMT due to the slow processing and generation of backend files for the members, MCX said in a statement.

Earlier in the day, MCX had said the exchange as well as the technology vendor, Tata Consultancy Services, were working to resolve the issue.

The technical snag comes just under four months after the new commodity derivatives platform went live following several delays and regulatory interventions.

In September, India's markets regulator had asked the company to put on hold plans for its new commodity derivatives platform to go live after investor group Chennai Financial Markets and Accountability (CFMA) asked it to ensure that MCX had required technical support.

CFMA had filed a public interest litigation in the Madras High Court in December 2022.

Total traded clients in derivatives on the MCX exchange saw a 50.8% growth, reaching around 753,000 in the April-December period over the corresponding period last year, MCX recently said.

MCX shares pared some losses and were down 0.8% at 3,463 Indian rupees ($41.45) as of 0742 GMT.

($1 = 83.0075 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR and Rajendra Jadhav; Editing by Kim Coghill and Shri Navaratnam)