Friday 25 August 2017

MSTC set to launch forward trading in niche horticulture products

The government owned mini-ratna MSTC Ltd is planning to launch forward trading in the horticulture products sector to support its recently launched nationwide electronic portal - eRaKAM.

The online trading platform which primarily deals in food grains, vegetables, fruits, spices and all agriculture related commodities and connected farmers directly with consumers, is all set to launch forward trading in pineapple and mango among a number of other such commodities to make the platform successful. Union Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, had last week said that around 2 million tonnes of pulses procured by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), would be auctioned on eRaKAM to begin with.

MSTC, however, does not feel the need to get regulatory approval for launching forward trading as it is proposing it in the horticulture commodities speciallly perishable commodities which are not traded in futures segment. Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) had suspended such forward trading in January 2016.

"There is a normal practice in remote Indian villages to sell entire mango fruits for the season in an orchard at the time of flowering. This practice is prevalent since ages without any regulatory approval. If we are allowing mango / pineapple farmers to know their realisation at the time of flowering, farmers would be encouraged to take care of their fruits better. It is better, if farmers find buyers well ahead of harvesting of their products to reduce spoilage, as horticulture is a product with short shelf life. For cereals, however, forward contracts may not be needed due to their long shelf life. Meanwhile, MSTC is just a platform and not trading in any commodity," said B B Singh, chairman and managing director, MSTC.

Through its home grown technology, MSTC is engaged in the e-auctions of cereals, sandalwood, land parcels, teak wood and other such products on behalf of the state and central governments through its own e-portal.

It's newly launched electronic commodity trading platform eRaKAM, however, is dedicated to farmers in the Northeast who would be able to sell their commodities to the highest bidders across the country and fetch higher price.

"The target customers for eRaKAM portal are farmers, farm producer organisations (FPO), federation of farmer cooperatives, institutional agencies like Nafed, FCI, Apeda, mill owners etc on one hand and the traders, institutional buyers like Mother Dairy, Spencer, Metro etc in the other," Singh said.

The launch of eRaKAM has raised eyebrows as a similar government project — electronic National Agricultural Mandi (eNAM) — launched by the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) in April 2016, failed to attract adequate liquidity despite having connected with around 500 agricultural spot mandis across the country.

Meanwhile, moving in tandem with the electronic trade wave, India Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative (Iffco) has introduced Iffco Bazar, an online marketplace (online mandi) for farmers wherein they can buy and sell their products to farmers located anywhere across the country. Through this, Iffco aims to connect and bring on board all the 50 million IFFCO member farmers and the 36,000 cooperatives in the country on a single digital platform.

Existing private player in this business NCDEX eMarkets Ltd (NeML) has, however, gained handsome traction from traders especially in Karnataka where its parent National Commodity & Derivates Ltd (NCDEX) has modernised spot mandis.
 News published in Business Standard | Kolkata | Thursday, 24 August 2017

Saturday 19 August 2017







नगर राजभाषा कार्यान्‍वयन समिति, कोलकाता की ओर से निगमित कार्यालय वर्ग में एमएसटीसी लि. के प्रधान कार्यालय को राजभाषा के क्षेत्र में श्रेष्‍ठ निष्‍पादन हेतु 12.08.2017 को पश्चिम बंगाल एवं बिहार के माननीय राज्‍यपाल श्री केशरीनाथ त्रिपाठी जी के द्वारा पुरस्कार प्रदान किया गया। एमएसटीसी लि. की ओर से यह पुरस्‍कार श्री बी बी सिंह, अध्‍यक्ष एवं प्रबंध निदेशक ने प्राप्‍त किया। श्रीमती दीपान्विता राय, वरिष्‍ठ प्रबंधक, राजभाषा को महिमहिम राज्‍यपाल के द्वारा प्रशस्ति-पत्र दिया गया। इस सम्‍मान को प्राप्‍त कर समस्‍त एमएसटीसी परिवार गर्वित है।

Thursday 10 August 2017



Shri BB Singh, CMD of MSTC LTD, a Mini Ratna Category-I PSU under Ministry of Steel, Govt. of India met Chief Minister of Manipur Shri N Biren Singh in Imphal on 10th August, Thursday to discuss the thrust areas wherein MSTC’s expertise and experience would be utilised to execute various e-commerce projects in the state of Manipur. Shri Singh apprised Hon'ble CM about MSTC's e-commerce services which are being utilised in many flagship projects of Govt. of India viz. Deen Dayal Upadhayay Gram Jyoti Yojana, Ude Desh Ka Aam Naagrik (UDAN) scheme, e-auction of Mining lease and composite licence. MSTC is already conducting E-auctions to sell various agro-forest products of North -East like ginger, pineapple, hill grass, black pepper etc.

Wednesday 9 August 2017


CMD called on Chief Secretary, Government of Meghalaya on 9th August 2017


CMD called on Chief Secretary, Government of Assam on 8th August, 2017

Thursday 3 August 2017

The e-RaKAM portal for selling agri produce was successfully inaugurated on 01-08-2017  by Hon'ble Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh and Hon'ble Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution Minister Ram Vilas Paswan. It's a remarkable foray by MSTC in the agricultural sector in collaboration with CRWC.