‘New regulations will create a pan-India spot market’

There are already strong foundations at NeML to go beyond what has already been done.

So in the first 6-10 weeks, I will spend time learning the linkages of NeML with the physical market, the partner institutions and the regulators and then I will also meet people across the group and see how to use the synergies. Earlier this year, the company had created a sort of a five-year plan.

So my first job will be to see how much of that plan needs to be re-worked because it was drawn pre-Covid.

There are three regulations and one government initiative that we’re talking about. Firstly, the law de-regulating the APMCs will allow for the creation of a true pan-India market in this business. While e-markets have co-existed with the APMCs all this while, they can now thrive independently as well across the country. Secondly, the contract farming laws will enable speedier dispute resolution and effectively help address the issue of small land holdings of farmer. The changes in the essential commodities Act will make procurement much easier and allow for larger participation by the private sector in the agricultural sector. Finally, the government funding for farm-head infrastructure will provide the much-needed investment in building last-mile warehousing and logistics support. All of this will create greater investment, broader participation and automatically expand the scope and reach of the commodity spot market.

Having invested in the end-to-end commodity spot value chain over the last 10 years with some outstanding technology solutions and tailored back end support, I think NeML has a huge upside in the Indian agricultural space.

We have always seen that the availability of a transparent pricing mechanism, robust infrastructure, large-scale public and private investments are all factors that raise the productivity, efficiency and the earnings in any sector. Agriculture and farming should be no exception and I am very optimistic. This will happen.