Sensing a windfall, private players like Reliance Retail are vying to set up markets in the state. Not only that, National Spot Exchange has also set the ball rolling by initiating plans to start its e-market in Gujarat.
M D Chauhan, managing director, Gujarat State Agriculture Marketing Board, said with the implementation of the Act, retail giants will think of setting up their private markets in Gujarat. A Reliance group spokesperson said the company's private market will come up in the state soon.
However, the number of private players will not be much as it involves huge investments of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) and more, says Chauhan. He added that none of the private companies has formally applied for setting up private markets as the guidelines are yet to be finalised.
Again, farmers in Gujarat will soon be trading their produce through e-markets. Officials of National Spot Exchange recently held an informal meeting with state government officials and the exchange's e-market is expected to come up this year.
The application for launching the e-market is under process. The exchange will have to spend Rs 50 crore (Rs 500 million) directly and Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion) indirectly to launch e-market in the state.
The trading through e-market will be delivery-based and the exchange will have to put its trading terminals across the state before launching its operations.
The exchange will use the warehouse of Multi Commodity Exchange at present and has approached Central Warehousing Corporation and Gujarat State Warehouse Corporation to make warehouses available to farmers.
