Business

IFMR Trust partners NSEL

CHENNAI: IFMR Trust, a private trust engaged in providing individuals and enterprises access to financial services, has decided to make available finance to farmers and traders against commodity warehouse receipts for products deposited in approved warehouses of National Spot Exchange Ltd. (NSEL).

National Spot Exchange is an electronic spot exchange promoted by Financial Technologies (I) Ltd. (FTIL) and NAFED (National Agricultural Co-operative Marketing Federation of India Limited).

The Trust has inked a partnership agreement with NSEL to launch a pilot project at Unjha in Gujarat. Under the arrangement, NSEL will do the facilitator role. “We are not the borrowers. We will only facilitate lending by IFMR to farmers,” Anjani Sinha, Managing Director and CEO of NSEL, told this correspondent.

Mr. Sinha said that there was no minimum amount prescribed for the loan. It all depended on the quantum of products deposited with the NSEL. The Managing Director said a farmer could just keep his products in the warehouse and sell them at a convenient time and at convenient prices.

“Such post-harvest financing will give farmers the option to wait out the usually low prices offered immediately after the harvest, and sell at a later time, when prices tend to rise. It will also allow farmers to take advantage of changing market prices ,” he said.

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