Forward Bloc may oppose it tooth and nail, but Reliance Fresh outlets will start springing up in the city within a month. The company plans to set up 200 Fresh outlets in the city and suburbs within two years. And, if Bloc continues with its resistance, Mukesh Ambani's company will procure agriculture produce from outside the state. Reliance Retail will make its intention known to chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who's been instrumental in wooing the Rs 4,000-crore investment, by next week. Reliance already has a supporter in mayor Bikash Bhattacharya, who has resolved to hand over the KMC-run Manicktala market to Reliance Retail. "If needed, I'll attend the Left Front meeting.... I am not scared of their questioning," the mayor said on Wednesday. Industry department sources, already in the know about Reliance Retail's extreme decision, said the company was no longer buying the government's apparent helplessness in granting the mandatory licence under the Agricultural Produce Marketing Control Act, thanks to the brouhaha by Forward Bloc. Only 5% of the commodities in Fresh outlets will comprise fruits and vegetables. Reliance Retail Ltd is now gearing up to purchase these agri-products from farmers outside the state. The APMC licence would have been necessary only if the company procured the products directly from farmers in Bengal. The other major components of the outlets will be groceries and dairy products. Reliance has been desperately trying to kickstart its agri-retail chain in Bengal since the CM announced the project last year. But the venture has hit a deadlock. "It's clear from the project submitted by RRL that there's no threat to farmers or small businessmen, as alleged by Bloc," an official said. In fact, based on the statistics provided by the government's Economic Review 2004-05, RRL has calculated that the volume of business from 200 Fresh shops would only constitute 0.5% of the entire Bengal market. "At the moment, 70% of the agri-retail value is being swallowed by only a handful of middlemen. This will stop once there is competition in the market." When told of Reliance's resolution, Bloc leader and West Bengal Marketing Board chairman Naren Chatterjee said: "If Reliance is trying to make forays into Bengal in this way, then we shall have to think of new strategies."
Showing posts with label Mandi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mandi. Show all posts
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Mandis go corporate as pvt firms pitch in
AFTER retail revolution, it is time to corporatise the mandi, the wholesale market for agricultural produce. Companies such as Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Industries, Bharat Hotels, NCDEX, DCL Shriram group, Zoom Developers and RK Foodlabs are in the fray to become developer and operator of the country’s first private terminal market in Chandigarh.
A terminal market is usually a central site, or a hub, often in a metropolitan area, that serves as an assembly and trading place for agricultural commodities. The markets are linked to a number of collection centres, or spokes, and provide state-of-the-art facilities for grading, transportation , storage, domestic marketing and export.
Under the new proposal, the government has asked states to invite private participation in terminal markets to provide a state-of-the-art linkage to farmers for selling their produce at a better price. This would be the first big initiative of the government to tap private money for creation of modern agricultural infrastructure in rural areas.
The first such terminal market would be developed at Chandigarh, where the area authorities are set to open financial bids next month. Other locations for terminal markets include Hyderabad, Tirupati, Patna, Punea, Nashik, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Chennai, Howrah and Kharagpur.
“We have received six proposals from corporates for setting up of terminal market in Chandigarh. Financial bids are likely to be opened on June 7 and final agreements are expected to be signed with the selected party by July. Other states are also in the process of lining up private partners and identification of land,” a government source said.
The commodities that would be traded at the terminal markets are fruit, vegetables, flowers, aromatics, herbs, meat and poultry. The markets would provide transparent auctions of commodities through electronic auction system. It is proposed to set up cold storage at each market with 2,000-15,000 million tonnes capacity.
“In order to facilitate backward-forward linkage in the commodities sector - which is quite poor right now - a minimum of 20 collection centres would be set up near farms. This way, the farmers will have alternative options to link with the supply chains, processing and export of commodities . The farmer would also be provided with an alternative option of taking his produce to terminal markets,” an official said.
According to sources, farmers’ share in consumer price of commodities would increase by 50-70 per cent by participating in the terminal market. At present, the share varies between 30 and 50 per cent for perishables depending on the location, season’s demand and supply.
A terminal market is usually a central site, or a hub, often in a metropolitan area, that serves as an assembly and trading place for agricultural commodities. The markets are linked to a number of collection centres, or spokes, and provide state-of-the-art facilities for grading, transportation , storage, domestic marketing and export.
Under the new proposal, the government has asked states to invite private participation in terminal markets to provide a state-of-the-art linkage to farmers for selling their produce at a better price. This would be the first big initiative of the government to tap private money for creation of modern agricultural infrastructure in rural areas.
The first such terminal market would be developed at Chandigarh, where the area authorities are set to open financial bids next month. Other locations for terminal markets include Hyderabad, Tirupati, Patna, Punea, Nashik, Nagpur, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Chennai, Howrah and Kharagpur.
“We have received six proposals from corporates for setting up of terminal market in Chandigarh. Financial bids are likely to be opened on June 7 and final agreements are expected to be signed with the selected party by July. Other states are also in the process of lining up private partners and identification of land,” a government source said.
The commodities that would be traded at the terminal markets are fruit, vegetables, flowers, aromatics, herbs, meat and poultry. The markets would provide transparent auctions of commodities through electronic auction system. It is proposed to set up cold storage at each market with 2,000-15,000 million tonnes capacity.
“In order to facilitate backward-forward linkage in the commodities sector - which is quite poor right now - a minimum of 20 collection centres would be set up near farms. This way, the farmers will have alternative options to link with the supply chains, processing and export of commodities . The farmer would also be provided with an alternative option of taking his produce to terminal markets,” an official said.
According to sources, farmers’ share in consumer price of commodities would increase by 50-70 per cent by participating in the terminal market. At present, the share varies between 30 and 50 per cent for perishables depending on the location, season’s demand and supply.
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