Soon, farmers in India will be equipped to check out the futures prices of commodities in their villages.
The Forward Market Commission, the apex commodities regulator is talking to a number of regional rural and commercial banks and post offices to open computer terminals that can disseminate futures prices information to farmers.
"We are keen that branches of commercial and regional rural banks and post offices should disseminate price information on commodity futures to farmers," FMC member Rajeev Agrawal told reporters.
He said commodity trading in India could undergo a major, revolutionary change if and when farmers benefit from "this new concept of price dissemination."
"If our farmers can know the prices of their produce in their villages, then that is the best thing for him to get the best price," Agrawal said.
The official said FMC wants commercial banks and post offices want to take this initiative forward as they have a massive footprint spread over 200,000 points in rural India.
"This would help farmers access information on a real-time basis and help them benefit from price movements," Agrawal said.
As a pilot project, the FMC member pointed out, 40 APMC yards in Gujarat had commenced futures price information. "We are keen that price information be made available across many more APMC yards," he noted.
Asked about the possibility of integrating spot markets with the futures market, Agrawal said this was dependent on a number of factors, including amendment to the APMC Act, taking a decision on state taxes and levies besides allowing for easy movement of goods.
"We are seeing interest in commodities trading emanating from all parts of the country. Last year, states such as West Bengal and Rajasthan occupied the third and fourth slots, respectively in commodity futures trading," the FMC official pointed out.
As per the FMC data, commodity futures trading volumes had zoomed to a whopping Rs 36 lakh crore in during the 2006-07 registering a 70 per cent year-on-year growth.
Currently bulk of the futures contract comes from commodities like bullion, energy and agri-products (including pulses, wheat, spices and the oil complex notably soya).