e-NAM Portal: Registration, Benefits, Stakeholders

The e-National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) is a pan-India trading portal launched on 14 April 2016. It networks the existing APMC (Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee) Mandis to establish a unified national market for agricultural commodities. The Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium (SFAC) is the agency for implementing e-NAM under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare.

The e-NAM portal networks the existing APMC/RMC (Regulated Marketing Committee) market yards, private markets, sub-market yards and other unregulated markets to unify all the nationwide agricultural markets and create a central online portal for agricultural commodity price discovery. 

It is a trading platform for agricultural commodities in India, facilitating online trading for farmers, buyers and traders. It helps in better price discovery and facilitates smooth marketing of the farmer’s produce. This portal also allows farmers to sell their produce through an online transparent and competitive price discovery system and payment facility.

Objectives of the e-NAM portal

• To integrate markets at the state level initially and eventually across the country through an online market platform to facilitate pan-India trade in agricultural commodities
• To streamline marketing or transaction procedures and make them uniform across markets to promote the efficient functioning of the markets
• To promote better marketing opportunities for farmers or sellers through online access to more buyers or markets, better and real-time price discovery based on actual demand and supply of agri-commodities, removal of information asymmetry between farmer and trader, transparency in the auction process, online payment, prices commensurate with the quality of produce, etc., that contribute to marketing efficiency
• To establish a system for quality assurance to promote informed bidding by buyers
• To promote consistent prices and availability of quality produce to consumers

e-NAM Portal Stakeholders

The following benefit from the e-NAM portal:

• Farmers 
• Mandis 
• Traders 
• Buyers 
• Processers 
• Exporters

Benefits of the e-NAM Portal

• Transparent online trading with enhanced accessibility to the market
• Real-time price discovery for stable price realisation for producers
• Reduced transaction cost for buyers
• Availability of information on the e-NAM mobile app about commodity prices
• Details of the price of the commodity sold along with quantity received through SMS
• Efficient supply chain and warehouse-based sales
• Online payment directly to the farmers’ bank accounts

e-NAM Portal Registration

Below are the steps to register on the e-NAM portal:

Step 1: The farmer or trader has to visit the e-NAM portal.

Step 2: Click the ‘Registration’ option. Select the ‘Registration Type’, ‘Registration Category’ and ‘Registration Level’.

Step 3: Enter the personal details, bank details, upload documents and click the ‘Submit’ button.

Step 4: A temporary login ID and password will be sent to the registered e-mail after successful registration.

Step 5: Log in to the e-NAM portal by entering your username and password.

Step 6: A message will be displayed on the dashboard - ‘Click here to register with APMC’. Click on this message/link.

Step 7: It will redirect to the ‘Registration Page’. Fill up the required details.

Step 8: After completion of KYC, a request will be sent to the selected APMC for approval.

Step 9: Farmers can view all APMC address details after logging in to the dashboard.

Step 10: Farmers will get an e-mail confirming the application submission to the concerned APMC and the application status as submitted, in progress, rejected or approved.

Step 11: Once the APMC approves the application, farmers will receive the e-NAM farmer permanent login ID and password to access the e-NAM portal from the registered e-mail ID.

Operation of the e-NAM Portal

The farmers, buyers, sellers, traders and exporters can trade on an APMC Mandis, a physical platform, or trade commodities on the e-NAM portal, where they can get real-time data on the quality and prices of agricultural commodities.

The e-NAM portal provides farmers and sellers transparency in trade through price discovery. Thus, more buyers and markets are available on the portal. The real-time price and arrival information offers insights for a good trade. 

Additionally, framers and sellers can get money directly on the e-NAM portal from the trade, allowing them to build a better financial profile. Users can also access the e-NAM portal through a mobile application available in 11 Indian languages. It offers a plug-in to a market yard existing in a state (private or regulated). 

The software developed for e-NAM is available to each mandi that agrees to join the network free of cost with required customisation to conform to each State Mandi Act. The state APMC Act must have specific provisions for electronic or e-auction trading as a mode of price discovery.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the e-NAM portal and the mobile application have been strengthened by launching the FPO (Farmer Producer Organisation) trading module, where they can trade their produce from their collection centres without bringing it to the APMCs. A warehouse-based trading module was launched in e-NAM to facilitate trade from warehouses based on the e-NWR (Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipt). 

The Platform of Platforms (POP) under the e-NAM was introduced to facilitate farmers to sell their produce outside the state borders. It will increase farmers’ digital access to multiple buyers, markets and service providers and bring transparency to business transactions. 

Around 41 service providers from various platforms are covered under the POP, facilitating value chain services like quality checks, trading, fintech, warehousing, market information, transportation, etc.

As of 16 March 2023, 1361 Mandis of 23 states and 4 UTs are integrated with the e-NAM portal. As of 31 March 2023, more than 1.75 crore farmers and 2.43 lakh traders have registered on the e-NAM portal. About 2,575 FPOs are onboarded on the e-NAM portal. The traded value of around Rs.2.50 lakh crore has been recorded on the e-NAM portal.