Transforming agricultural trading and commerce in India: Role of e-NAM and potential of digital trade

This paper explores the transformative role of digital platforms, such as e-NAM (electronic National Agriculture Market) and ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), in reforming agricultural marketing in India. By increasing market access, transparency, and efficiency, these platforms reduce middlemen dependency and improve price realization of farmers. In this context, the study evaluates e-NAM’s influence on price realization and spatial price integration for key agricultural commodities, including rice, wheat, tomato, onion, potato, and turmeric, from January 2011 to April 2024. The study has found that spatial price integration of some of these commodities has improved in the post-e-NAM period compared to the pre-e-NAM period (January 2011 to December 2015). Further, the farmers using the e-NAM platform have experienced significantly higher price realizations than those trading in non-e-NAM APMC mandis for the same commodities. However, despite these positive outcomes, e-NAM’s contribution to the total APMC trade volume remains minimal, accounting for only 6 per cent as of Financial Year 2023-2024, with just 20 per cent of APMCs onboarded to the platform. The study also identifies significant challenges of e-NAM platform, including low inter-state trade and the dominance of intra-mandi transactions. The paper also highlights the ONDC’s potential to foster direct connections between farmers and buyers while democratizing the digital landscape, offering significantly lower commission rates compared to traditional platforms. However, addressal of digital divide and development of rural infrastructure are crucial for increasing farmers’ participation and advancing digital integration in the agricultural marketing sector of India.