Union Finance Ministry has asked banks (public, private, regional, rural & cooperative banks) to register with National Credit Guarantee Trustee Company (NCGTC) & e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi (e-KUN) portal to boost lending against E-NWRs.
- NCGTC administers the Credit Guarantee Scheme for e-NWR-based Pledge Financing (2024) , which provides credit guarantees to Eligible Lending Institutions against pledge finance of E-NWRs.
- e-Kisan Upaj Nidhi (part of Jan Samarth portal) provides the farmers, an online platform to obtain post-harvest loans from banks by pledging their e-NWRs.
What are Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (E-NWRs)?
- It is a digital version of a traditional warehouse receipt, governed by the Warehousing (Development and Regulation) Act of 2007. The issuance of NWR in electronic form has been mandatory since 2019.
- It allows goods deposited in a registered warehouse to be transferred/sold through endorsement.
- Issuer: Warehouses registered with the Warehousing Development and Regulatory Authority (WDRA) can issue e-NWRs against notified commodities deposited therein.
- WDRA is a statutory body under the Warehousing (Development & Regulation) Act, 2007.
- Validity: Co-terminus with the shelf-life of the commodity or withdrawal of the commodity fully from warehouse, whichever is earlier.
- Significance: Enables farmers/depositors to seek loans easily from banks, encourages scientific warehousing of goods, avoids distress sale of agricultural produce by farmers.
- eNWRs can be traded off-market & used in commodity derivative exchanges for settlement of trade.
