NSEL to widen reach through service centres

The National Spot Exchange (NSEL) and Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) are in discussions to allow the former to set up trading terminals in Common Service Centres (CSCs). The Central government is planning to set up one lakh CSCs across the country in two to three years, with 6,000 CSCs expected to come up in Gujarat by March 2008.

The NSEL and IL&FS officials discussed various aspects of the proposal on September 19 in New Delhi.

The CSC project is part of the central government's National e-Governance Programme (NeGP) under the Department of Information Technology. The NeGP has three components, namely SWAN, the State Data Centre (SDC) and the CSC. The CSC is also part of the Information and Communication Technology Initiative (ICT) of the central government.

The basic function of a CSC is to provide e-government facilities to farmers, weather and rainfall reports, information on land revenues and issue birth and death certificates.

"The idea is to develop the CSC scheme as an ideal revenue generation model. We have asked IL&FS, a front runner in infrastructure development, to avail of our spot exchange platform and services to help farmers sell their produce," said Anjani Sinha, MD & CEO, NSEL.

As envisaged, CSCs will be equipped with facilities such as computers, internet and telephone. The project will also require a one-time investment of Rs 500 to Rs 600 crore.

"IL&FS is in talks with the government of Gujarat to set up this project. The target is to set up 6,000 CSCs across the state by March 2008," Sinha added. Since CSCs do not have functions that can generate revenues, spot exchange terminals can turn into a ideal revenue source, Sinha said.

"The people who run the CSCs will not be salaried government employees. So the project requires a regular revenue source for it to produce the desired results. With spot exchange terminals, people who run these centres can become brokers or sub brokers and turn it into a revenue source," Sinha said. The government of India has appointed IL&FS as the Programme Management Agency (PMA) to assist the department of IT and the states in carrying out all activities related to the ICT initiative. IL&FS would work with the Department of IT to develop a public-private partnership framework for the Scheme.