The National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) and its Investor Protection Fund Trust launched the country's first call centre dedicated to farmers and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs) on Tuesday to provide comprehensive information about agricultural derivatives and related market infrastructure services.
According to a press release issued by NCDEX, the initiative will allow farmers and FPOs to access real-time information about exchange functionalities, product-related queries, spot prices, delivery and settlement-related queries, and so on.
"This will be the first-of-its-kind call centre offering information to connect farmers and FPOs directly to the derivatives market."
"I am confident that the facility will bridge the gap between NCDEX and farmers, particularly those in remote areas across the country, and bring them into the mainstream of agricultural produce marketing," said Arun Raste, managing director and CEO of NCDEX.
"Derivatives provide effective risk management tools to farmers," said V. S. Sundaresan, executive director of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), speaking at the launch. “However, farmers' understanding of the derivatives market is lacking. SEBI has been working hard in this direction, and this call centre will help us. It's a positive step in the right direction."
The information available at the call centre will not be limited to derivatives trading, but will also include all NCDEX Group services such as Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt-based financing and electronic spot trading through auctions and reverse auctions to connect farmers to the entire agri-value chain.
What role does NCDEX play in assisting farmers?
In several states across the country, NCDEX is actively engaged in training farmers, assisting Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs), and connecting them to the Exchange platform. It is a wholly government-owned organization.
