The Forward Markets Commission (FMC), the commodity futures market regulator, is planning to install 800 ticker boards in the first phase of its “live price dissemination programme” with an investment of around Rs 10 crore.
The programme is set to be inaugurated by the agricultural minister Sharad Pawar on May 12 in Azadpur mandi in Delhi to capture 800 mandis across the country in the first phase which will later be expanded to another 200 mandis by the end of this financial year.
“The idea is to connect 1,000 mandis through tickerboard and internet where commodities’ prevailing future prices can be disseminated to farmers throughout the day so that they can take correct decision for their far output,” said Rajeev Agarwal, member, FMC.
Commodity exchanges and the regulator have, so far, managed to connect only 183 mandis with price dissemination ticker boards which are maintained by exchanges.
“In this phase we are concentrating on those mandis that have minimum infrastructure like electricity, cable and computer network. Later on, we will if this programme can be extended to other mandis also,” Agarwal added.
Over 8,000 spot mandis in India currently transact agri commodity business worth Rs 1,15,000 crore per day. But, majority of such mandis especially in backward area lack basic infrastructure like electricity, adequate rail and road linkages.
Each ticker board is priced between Rs 1-1.5 lakh alongwith the cost of installation. In the beginning, 65 per cent of the installation cost will be born by the regulator that is the government and the remaining 35 per cent will be paid by exchanges in certain proportions.
For maintenance, however, the regulator is planning to appoint a local agency to look after the ticker board in each mandi.
Experts believe that the initiative will certainly benefit farmers to take selling call. If price for future month for commodity “A” is quoted lower in exchanges than prevailing prices in spot market then farmers can sell immediately after harvesting. While, if prices for future months are higher then they can hold commodities for sell in months to come, an analyst said.
The initiative will also increase farmers’ participation on exchange platform, he added.
Lack of price availability and proper guidance have caused distress sell of farm commodities on many occasions for which growers pay in lean season at double the price during harvesting season. The distress sell continues to make farmers poor while arhatiyas or mediators make huge money at growers’ cost.
