Gujarat wants revised plan on spot exchange

The Gujarat government has asked the National Spot Exchange (NSEL), a Financial Technologies group company, to submit a revised proposal for setting up the first spot exchange in the state. It has also sought some clarifications from the exchange.

The state government has told the exchange to ensure that farmers' interests are safeguarded and that local agriculture produce market committees (APMCs) have a role in the proposed spot exchange.

The Gujarat government's and the NSEL's efforts to evolve a perfect and foolproof spot market seem to be the reason behind the delay in launching the exchange. The NSEL was planning to launch the country's first spot exchange in August.

"The first proposal from the NSEL was not acceptable in the present form and some clarifications were required. The NSEL has been asked to submit a revised proposal with those clarifications. We want to ensure that the system, which is a very new concept in the country, is foolproof and interests of farmers are safeguarded properly," said Avinash Kumar, principal secretary, agriculture and cooperation, Gujarat government.

Kumar added that the exchange was working over the government's suggestions. "Some issues such as farmers' access to the system and networking are being looked into. We have suggested the NSEL to lower farmers' fees and include local APMCs and government officials in the administration," Kumar added.

The agriculture secretary is confident that a final decision in this regard would be taken latest by the second week of October.

"There were some issues related to farmers' interests, administrative functioning and market compliance of the new system. The government has asked us to submit the clarifications and we have already submitted them," said Anjani Sinha, MD and CEO, NSEL,

He added that the NSEL would meet the state government officials on Monday and expressed hope that the licence would be issued on the same day.