Online Market place for Small Farmers to be launced soon in India

A marketplace for small farmers in India may soon be a reality with NSEL [ National Spot Exchange Limited ] being accorded the necessary licenses in 3 states of India including Gujrat, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

According to NSEL, they have received the licenses to launch an electronic platform that would allow them to launch a spot exchange where farmers can sell as low as one quintal of product without having to deal with too many middlemen. This level of openness in the market will allow farmers to reap much larger benefits than they have access to in today's Indian trading markets.

Per NSEL, a membership drive has been launched across the country and they expect to start a pilot soon and can be as early as September 2008. The pilot is expected to launch contracts in commodities like pulses, spices and oil seeds and is expected to extend similar trading platform for the gold and silver traders.

In the spot exchange, farmers will be able to sell their produce through the brokers, who will be licensed by the members of the exchange. NSEL expects the overall charges to be less than 1/10th of the current charges farmers typically pay in selling their production.