HDFC Bank Join Hands With e-NAM Platform To Support Over 1.71 Cr Farmers

HDFC Bank, India's largest private sector bank, unveiled its integration with the Government of India's National Agriculture Market (eNAM) to allow digital collections and settlement of funds to various e-NAM beneficiaries.

The bank has said that it has partnered with the SFAC to further improve the ease of doing business on e-NAM platform by offering the following collection modes through integration with eNAM, under this engagement:

1) Multi-Netbanking

2) Debit card

3) NEFT/RTGS

4) UPI/IMPS

Farmers utilising the e-NAM platform simply need to upload the required KYC details to get registered. Details of their Produce (Lot Id) and Quality Assaying certificate are uploaded by the Mandi before the e-bidding process. Once the sale bill is finalised, they can easily receive payment using the robust system provided by HDFC Bank.

HDFC Bank has said in an official statement that it supports the farmers with its 5,000+ branch network. With over 50% of its branches in Semi-Urban and Rural areas, the bank gives the farmers and traders access to its banking services to support their trading activities on the eNAM platform, even in remote geographies.

"This integration helps not only farmers but also Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), commission agents, institutional buyers and other Mandi level service providers etc. who form part of the entire agriculture value chain. In addition to collections, the platform enables automated settlement mechanism without any manual intervention to the beneficiary accounts" the bank has claimed.

"As envisioned by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to maximise the benefit for farmers by use of technology. I expect that this tie up with HDFC Bank will benefit the farmers across the country as they will be able to do business transactions from place of their convenience," said Smt. Neelkamal Darbari IAS, Managing Director, SFAC.

"We are delighted to have the opportunity to partner with SFAC to offer our banking services for the eNAM platform. It allows us to support farmers by enabling them to receive their payments in a seamless manner and offer ease of doing business to them," said Ms Sunali Rohra, Executive Vice President, Government & Institutional Business & Gig Banking, HDFC Bank. "At HDFC Bank, we have pioneered building partnerships with Government. In 2001, we were appointed as the first agency bank to digitize tax collections for the Central Board of Direct Taxes. Based on this experience two other banks were inducted in 2003. Today, as the second largest agency bank in India for tax collection, we strongly believe that partnership between the government and private players has the power to transform lives."

eNAM is an online trading platform that enables online agricultural goods transactions for farmers, traders, FPOs, and other stakeholders. It was launched in 2016 with the Small Farmers Agri-Business Consortium (SFAC) as the nodal implementing agency under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare. e-NAM is currently connected to 1,000 Mandis around the country. As of 2021, 1.7 crore farmers and 1.8 lakh traders are enrolled on eNAM, with 1.7 crore farmers and 1.8 lakh traders benefiting from the digital marketplace. Until FY 2020-21, the total value of agri-produce sold on eNAM is estimated to be over Rs. 1.3 lakh crore. There are approximately 1000 mandis that are now connected to the platform, and the government promised in its Budget statement that another 1000 will be connected in the following two to three years.