The 2015 proposal
A National Agri Exchange connecting all dealers — compare and equalise prices, move goods from surplus to deficit, e-auction format; final price = origin price + transport cost.
Where it stands in 2026
e-NAM is precisely the national exchange the deck called for, live since April 2016: 1,656 mandis connected, about 1.80 crore farmers registered, and ₹4.82 lakh crore traded cumulatively. Yet careful studies find the harder prize — genuine inter-state trade — remains a small share of the volume; most transactions still clear locally because logistics, distrust of a far-away assay and payment risk all weigh against bidding blind across state lines. The portal exists; the trust that lets it span the country does not yet.
The open gap
True spatial arbitrage — 'one nation, one price' — is still unrealised.
How to sustain & deepen it
A national market needs trust, not just a national portal. Pair e-NAM with machine assaying (#11) so a buyer believes the grade, warehouse-receipt delivery (#16) so they believe the goods exist, and escrow payment so each side believes they will be paid — and the buyer three states away can finally bid with confidence. Settle the logistics leg through the ULIP and cold-chain rails (#19) so winning a distant lot doesn’t mean losing it in transit. ‘One nation, one price’ is an outcome of trust built across these prerequisites, not a feature you switch on.
Where it sits in the chain
See the full map →Sources
- ↗ e-NAM (National Agriculture Market) — Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers' Welfare
- ↗ Agmarknet — daily mandi prices — Directorate of Marketing & Inspection, Govt. of India
- ↓ Electronic National Agricultural Market (e-NAM): A Review of Performance and Prospects — Directorate of Economics & Statistics, DA&FW, Government of India, 2021
- ↓ Creating Agricultural Markets: How the Ethiopia Commodity Exchange Connects Farmers and Buyers — International Finance Corporation / World Bank Group, 2017
- ↓ The Ethiopian Commodity Exchange and the spatial integration of grain markets (Grantham WP 204) — Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics, 2015
- ↓ Is the Electronic Market the Way Forward to Overcome Market Failures in Agriculture? (IEG WP 387) — Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi, 2019