NCDEX Spot Exchange has completed the implementation of electronic-tendering in 13 agricultural produce marketing committees (APMCs) in Karnataka and is planning to soon extend it to another eight states.
“At present, we have completed the modernisation of 13 APMCs in Karnataka by introducing e-auction system that is helping farmers to get optimum price in a transparent way.
We aim to cover 50 APMCs in the State by the end of FY13.
After that we plan to extend this system to other States as well,” NCDEX Spot Exchange Executive Vice-President and Head Spot Exchange Rajesh Sinha told reporters here.
The exchange, he said, is in talks with other state governments and is planning to roll out the e-tendering system in another eight states soon.
NCDEX Spot Exchange started this e-tendering project under an agreement with the Karnataka Government, which wanted to procure tur dal for mid-day meal scheme in schools.
“This mandi (wholesale market) modernisation project took us three years to develop and implement,” Sinha said.
Grading and assaying
The first phase of the project, introduced in December 2011, merely replaced the existing e-tender system with an integrated Internet-based e-auction or e-tender with an additional feature of entering the details of lots entering into the market at the gate itself.
In the second phase in June 2012, grading was introduced, which is now extended to 11 commodities.
Earlier, not much attention was paid to grading and assaying and the quality was mostly determined through ‘sight and touch’.
As a part of modernisation, grading was sought to be made more scientific as this would fetch better returns to farmers and assure buyers of quality.
NCDEX Spot Exchange is now planning to launch the third phase, in which it will link the Gulbarga mandi with the national market through other APMCs.
“Initially, we plan to link the pulses markets in Karnataka before extending it to other commodities,” Sinha said.