Now log on to buy potatoes in WB

Kolkata: Trading in potato, India's most widely grown and relished tuber, will go online in West Bengal to benefit farmers who often resort to distress sales.

The online sale of potatoes would start from September 1 through the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX).

MCX is an independent multi-commodity exchange recognised by the Central Government for facilitating online trading, said state Agriculture Minister Naren De.

The potatoes would be sold under the brand name Tarakeswar Alu though the crop would be procured from Hooghly (where Tarakeshwar is located) as well as Burdwan, Howrah and other districts.

The Tarakeshwar brand potato would actually be the popular Kufri Jyoti variety grown in West Bengal.

According to De, online trading might bring parity in prices across the country and benefit both the farmer and the trader.

Since stockists and traders regulate the market, farmers often get poor prices as they sell the crop from the field itself irrespective of demand.

Naren De said that about eight million tonnes of potatoes are grown in West Bengal.

There is scope for a turnover of Rs 45 billion in potato trade annually. As the Kufri Jyoti variety is produced in abundance, it was chosen for online sale, according to a study by MCX

Another popular variety-Chandramukhi, has not found place online because of inadequate production.

Satellite technology would enable the online facility to reach every village market.

Trading would continue from Monday to Friday between 0900 hours IST and 1500 hours IST.

MCX is appointing brokers area wise for the online trade.

A buyer has to purchase at least 30 tonnes to be eligible for online trading.

A buyer would be able to store the potatoes in the cold storages registered by the government and take delivery as and when required.

MCX is a joint venture of the Financial Technologies (I) Ltd, State Bank of India and its associates, National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE), Fid Fund (Mauritius) Ltd, an affiliate of Fidelity International.

Other associates include Corporation Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Bank and SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd.

In the first calendar quarter of 2006, MCX held more than 55 per cent market share of the total trading volume of all the domestic commodity exchanges.

Headquartered in Mumbai, MCX is led by an expert management team with deep domain knowledge of the commodities futures market.