eNAM (Electronic National Agriculture Market)

eNAM, the National Agriculture Market, is a pan-India electronic trading portal that integrates existing APMC mandis into a virtual unified national market for agricultural commodities. It is administered by the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) under the Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare.

Overview

eNAM was launched by the Prime Minister on 14 April 2016 and is fully funded by the Government of India as a central sector scheme. Mandis that join the platform enable online bidding for lots that are physically assayed at the yard, with payment routed electronically to the seller's bank account.

Eligibility

State governments must amend their APMC Acts to permit electronic auction, single trading licences valid across the state and a single point of market fee levy before their mandis are onboarded. Within onboarded mandis, registered farmers, traders, commission agents and Farmer Producer Organisations (see Farmer Producer Organisation Fpo) can transact on the portal.

Benefit and structure

The platform's core services are:

Online price discovery through e-auction across mandis
Assaying support at the yard for transparent quality grading
Electronic payment direct to the farmer's bank account
A unified commodity list spanning more than 200 commodities (initially 90+) across cereals, pulses, oilseeds, spices, fruits and vegetables

Implementation

SFAC, with technical support from a strategic partner, runs the eNAM portal and onboards mandis in collaboration with state agricultural marketing boards. Hardware for assaying labs and software training are co-funded by the Centre. The scheme complements physical APMC trade (see Apmc Mandi), AGMARK grade standards (Agmark Grading) and MSP procurement (see Msp Minimum Support Price).

References

National Agriculture Market Scheme. Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium.
e-NAM Explainer. Press Information Bureau.