Atul Group forays into potato futures

After successfully establishing its presence in the business of diesel engine, generators, pump sets, PVC pipes, hyper/high chrome steel media balls and railway components, the Rs 30 crore Atul Group of Companies has introduced futures trading in the Agra potato market.

The group recently began its multi-commodity exchange terminal in Agra for which the Atul Group has been appointed as the main broker.

Talking to Business Standard, Sanjeev Mittal, Director, Atul Group of Companies said that Agra is the largest producer of potatoes in North India, growing as much as 8 per cent of the total potato production in the country.

This status had earned Agra the distinction of being the largest potato market in India and out of the Rs 25-Rs 30 crore national trading in potatoes every day, Atul Group's share was as much as Rs 20 crore.

He said that since the launch of the trading terminal in Agra, the group had dealt in almost Rs 700 crore worth of future trading of potato, with a delivery time-frame of three months, providing the local farmers the advantage of hedging on their produce well in advance to enable them to stock their potatoes while the prices were down and trade on their potato stock in the future.

According to Mittal, these days, an average day's trading was anywhere between Rs 15-Rs 20 crore as the market was still going strong but it was expected to rise further and the farmers were trading solely on this aspect of the market.