(GIST OF KURUKSHETRA) National Cooperative Exports Limited: Empowering India’s Agricultural Exports

(JULY-2025)

National Cooperative Exports Limited: Empowering India’s Agricultural Exports

Introduction:

NCEL operates as an umbrella organisation with the primary goal of promoting and facilitating exports from India’s cooperative and agricultural sectors. It serves as the nodal agency for the export of agricultural and allied commodities, empowering Indian farmers to access global markets. As a cooperative initiative, NCEL aims to create a robust export framework that ensures quality Indian agricultural and allied produce reaches international markets efficiently and profitably, thereby enhancing India’s agricultural export capacity and strengthening its position in the global food trade. In this manner, NCEL plays a key role in contributing to the vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Financial & Non-Financial Aims of NCEL as a Dedicated Export Cooperative Society:

Act as an umbrella organisation to promote and carry out exports from the cooperative sector.
Year-on-year growth in NCEL’s revenue.
Help unlock the export potential of Indian cooperatives in global markets.
Improved prices of ‘Cooperative’ products through exports.
Improved social security for stakeholders.
Upliftment of stakeholders belonging to weaker sections.
Assist cooperatives in accessing benefits from various export-related schemes and policies of different Indian government ministries.
Generation of rural employment through export related activities.

Improved market focused competitiveness of cooperatives.
Provision of a sense of belongingness to various stakeholders, such as the farmers.
Provides a platform for cooperative societies from primary to apex levels to become members and participate in export activities.
Shares profits with member farmers, NCEL has provisions for distributing profits to its members:

Vision of NCEL

The core vision of NCEL is to establish India as a global leader in agricultural exports by ensuring the availability of high-quality and diverse agricultural products in international markets. The organisation aims to enhance the competitiveness of Indian agricultural products through:

Quality Assurance: Ensuring that exported products meet international standards and consumer preferences.
Infrastructure Development: Building state-of- the-art logistics, packaging, and storage facilities to streamline the export process.
Farmer Empowerment: Directly linking farmers with global markets to ensure fair compensation for their produce.
Brand Development: Promoting Indian agricultural products through branding and marketing, making them recognised and trusted worldwide.

Mission of NCEL

The mission of NCEL is to overcome the current challenges in the agricultural export supply chain, including infrastructure deficits, market access, and inadequate coordination between producers and exporters. NCEL aims to:

Facilitate seamless trade and export of Indian agricultural products.
Empower farmers through cooperative models that provide access to better income and global markets.
Build a competitive edge for Indian products in international markets by ensuring product quality and standards.
Strengthen the role of cooperatives in contributing to India’s global agricultural export success.

Key Objectives of NCEL

NCEL’s approach is focused on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of India’s agricultural export operations. Some of the key objectives of the organisation include:

Enhancing Market Access: By connecting Indian farmersand producer cooperatives to international buyers, NCEL aims to open up new markets for agricultural produce.
Strengthening the Export Infrastructure: The development of a robust export infrastructure including processing units, packaging facilities, cold storage, and warehousing is crucial for maintaining the quality of produce and ensuring timely delivery.
Ensuring Quality Compliance: NCEL focuses on ensuring that the products meet international quality standards, including certifications such as ISO, HACCP, and Global GAP, which are necessary for accessing global markets.
Sustainable and Ethical Practices: NCEL promotes environmentally sustainable agricultural practices, technology-assisted traceability, and ethical standards which ensure that the export processes facilitate fair wages and conditions for farmers and workers.
Promoting Farmer Cooperatives: NCEL builds strong partnerships with farmer cooperatives, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs), Self-Help Groups (SHGs) and other relevant stakeholders to ensure a steady and reliable supply of export-grade produce.

Key Challenges

Despite its robust infrastructure and cooperative model, NCEL faces several challenges:

Infrastructure Deficits: There is still a gap in the availability of modern cold storage, processing and packaging facilities.
Market Access: Entering international markets requires overcoming tariff barriers, non-tariff measures, international political economy considerations and regulatory hurdles.
Farmer Awareness: Information regarding international standards for agricultural and allied produce remains inaccessible to many farmers, which can negatively affect product quality and hinder exports to desirable international markets.
Supply Chain Management: Coordinating the logistics of sourcing, processing, and delivering products on time remains a challenge.
Global Competition: NCEL competes with agricultural exporters from other countries, making it crucial to differentiate Indian products in terms of quality and price.

Key Milestones

In just two years since its inception, NCEL has made significant progress:

Membership Growth: A total of 10,346 cooperativesocieties from 30 states and union territories have become applied for membership to NCEL. 9,425 cooperative societies have been issued share certificates.
Financial Success: Eorthefinancialyear2024-2025, NCEL achieved a turnover of Rs. 4,283 crores, with cumulative turnover since its inception surpassing Rs. 5,396 crores.
Export Milestones: NCEL has so far exported approximately 13.09 LMT of Agri commodities like rice, wheat, maize, sugar, onion and cumin seed worth Rs. 5,396 crore.
Rice Exports: NCEL has emerged as one of India’s largest exporters of rice, particularly non-Basmati white rice and broken rice.

Conclusion:

As India continues to navigate the complexities of international trade, NCEL’s role in promoting cooperative exports will remain crucial. By building on its achievements and embracing new opportunities, NCEL has the potential to further strengthen the cooperative sector and ensure that the benefits of globalisation reach the grassroots level.