New Delhi, 10 March 2021: National Collateral Management Services Limited (NCML), India's largest private-sector agriculture post-harvest management company, announced that it has achieved 10,000+ MT auction quantity under its Surakshit Mandi project for which the value of the Commodity is more than INR 10 Crore.
With the onset of pandemic and subsequent lockdown, market access became a key challenge for farmers. The Government took immediate action and tried to streamline the mandi operations. NCML initiated the program 'Surakshit Mandi' to help farmers in selling their crops through its warehouses, which provides a direct platform to farmers to get the right price, timely & affordable credit and has also ensured a safe and easy transaction.
It uses the latest RBI approved escrow accounts, provides an e-wallets payment gateway. Speaking on this, Mr. Siraj Chaudhry, MD and CEO, NCML, said, "We introduced the concept of Surakshit Mandi at the time when everything was under lockdown, and the farmer needed to sell his stock. Most of the farmers only brought crops that were not under government procurement. We ensured that when a farmer brings their produce, we suitably assay, grade, and list it for e-auction on the electronic platform — mktyard.com.
Arrangements were made to issue e-tokens in advance and all Covid-19 related protocols are observed. Farmers’ acceptance was taken basis the bids received online, and the money was deposited into their account on the very same day”. NCML’s MktYard.com has a pan-India presence with over 5000 traders & processors, 100 FPO’s trading across all commodities and has pioneered products like pledge sale and order matching.
The company started the ‘Surakshit Mandi’ operations in Rajasthan and Odisha and has now expanded its operations to other states like Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat. NCML has successfully conducted over 8000 e-Auctions worth more than INR 1000 Crores for various government organizations- such as Marketing Federations, civil supply corporations, and seed corporations across the states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Gujarat. Further, e-auctions have also been conducted for more than 10 national banks and signed agreements with 8 of them as the first-choice auction service provider.
The company has also conducted auctions for MMTC and NAFED (Onions) as well. NCML aims to focus on wheat and maize for the upcoming Rabi season and will cover Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan & Madhya Pradesh as they are the major wheat-producing states.
To make the process more accessible, the company has its android-based farmer e-procurement app, using which it has procured paddy and maize worth INR 550 Crores in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, and Bihar.
