What the NSE has done for the organised sector of the economy, viz. industries, NCME seeks to do for the disorganised sector.

The implications are enormous. GoodNewsIndia has long lamented [see the two concluding paras at this link ]that in the great cerebral debate between the globalisers and the swadeshis, the need for within-country ‘globalisation’ has been ignored. Producers are denied fair prices, free markets and export opportunities. Grain and crop procurement prices are wrought every year from politicians after adopting many pressure strategies. NMCE will go some way in bringing about freedom for producers.

NMCE’s popularity is growing. Today there are over 200 traders in cities and towns across India. They are all connected by vsats in a robust virtual ecosystem. The number of traders is expected to go to 500 soon.

Let us revisit gold for a moment. Is it a rich man’s luxury? In India, no. The rich may own a lot of it but for the poor it’s a survival tool. They hold it in small quantities and add to it in tiny driblets as and when able. It is their collateral asset for hard times that come upon them suddenly. It’s the only asset they carry away as they travel and migrate looking for work. Without a little of it most Indian families would be ruined. Indians over the millennia have survived because of it. Not for nothing is India’s demand for gold is 800 tonnes which is worth $40 billion. If a drill-down survey is done, it would reveal that a major portion of this is held in individual quantities of about 5o gms or less. An open trading system as the one NMCE has pioneered will reform the market for this poor man’s commodity as valuable to him as salt.