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Our Bureau

New Delhi , Sept. 30

THE Food Corporation of India (FCI) plans to raise Rs 5,000 crore through issue of bonds to restructure its debt. It has sought approval from the Government for this. FCI had earlier this year raised Rs 5,000 crore through bonds issuance.

"We have sought a clearance from the Government for issuing bonds of Rs 5,000 crore about a month ago," said Mr R.P. Vaishnaw, Chief General Manager, FCI, on the sidelines of a seminar held to discuss the "Use of IT in food and agricultural marketing in Asia".

FCI has sent its proposal to the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, and it would be subsequently sent to the Finance Ministry for final approval. The organisation plans to raise bonds through private placement with institutional investors. In September this year, FCI mobilised Rs 5,000 crore at an average cost of 7.14 per cent per annum as against the nine per cent per annum rate led by SBI-led consortium. The move resulted in savings of over Rs 90 crore per annum to the corporation. At present, FCI has about Rs 25,000-crore debt raised at a cost of nine per cent per annum, Mr Vaishnaw said.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of State for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Dr Akhilesh Prasad Singh, said the Government had taken several measures in upgrading the system of monitoring the level of availability of foodgrains in various parts of the country. "This will enable farmers in getting latest skill about marketing their produce through procurement centres being operated by FCI," said Mr Singh.

The FCI Chairman and Managing Director, Mr V.K. Malhotra, pointed out that the banking sector has set up independent Web sites where farmers could get details of crop cultivation, support price and other statistical details relating to per hectare yield.

Experts at the conference recommended that farmers should be educated on standardisation and grading of food and agricultural commodities to facilitate e-trading.

They also suggested the need to inform the farmers about organic cultivation, documentation and trace-ability of agricultural produce for overseas buyers to promote exports. Experts also called for digitally storing information required by farmers, traders, exporters, processors and transporters to facilitate retrieval through the Internet.

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