The Centre is making efforts to create consensus for the smooth passage of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Rajya Sabha in the forthcoming session of Parliament which would create a uniform market for all goods and services including agriculture commodities, a senior government official has said.

With this move, the government would be able to create a uniform market for all goods and services in the country and the agriculture sector – where multiple distortions exist – would gain despite it being a State subject, Ajay Tyagi, Additional Secretary, Finance Ministry said at a seminar on National Agriculture Market (NAM) organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Wednesday.

Tyagi pointed out that the agriculture market in the country was suffering from lack of uniformity not only between States but also within States at the ‘tehsil’ level.

“Having uniformity within States is a big challenge as a lot of vested interests are at play in agriculture mandis in various ‘tehsils’. There is a need for uniformity within a State and a single license fee at mandis,” he said.

Agri e-market The e-NAM, an online portal for trading in agriculture produce launched in April, seeks to create a market for agriculture goods where prices are uniformly discovered, there is standardisation of products and where farmers get their due, the Additional Secretary said, adding that there should be more effort to disseminate information on this in semi-urban are rural areas.

“People need to be told why is the NAM beneficial for everyone including farmers, consumers, spot markets and financial markets,” he said.

The e-NAM will initially enable farmers in eight States – Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Telangana, Rajasthan and Haryana – to sell online 25 commodities in 21 wholesale mandis.

The commodities that will initially be sold online include chana (black gram), castorseed, paddy, wheat, maize, turmeric, onion, mustard, mahua flower, tamarind and shelling pea.

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