KARACHI: The National Rural Support Programme (NRSP) Agri-Processing Company (NRSP-APCL) and Naymat Collateral Management Company Limited (NCMCL) have collaborated to issue the first electronic warehouse receipt (EWR) against rice and paddy stocks stored at the recently accredited NRSP-APCL facility located in Hafizabad (Punjab).

The Electronic Warehouse Receipt (EWR), the first-of-its-kind in Pakistan, is a digital instrument which gives financial institutions real time information and access to farmers who have placed their produce in an accredited warehouse, significantly reducing transaction costs and operational risks for the banks. The technology platform of EWR is also integrated with the Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX), offering access to farmers to a structured secondary market. The EWR regime currently focuses on paddy, rice and maize while the scope will be broadened in the near future.

The NCMCL is the first collateral management company incorporated under the Collateral Management Company Regulations issued by the SECP in 2019. The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) has already done necessary amendment to the prudential regulations, making the EWR acceptable collateral.

The NRSP Agriculture Processing Company Limited was established in 2016 to invest and promote warehousing and agriculture value chain projects with smallholding farmers. It is a subsidiary of the NRSP with joint investment of Karandaaz Pakistan.

The warehousing facility was established under partial funding by the Financial Innovation Challenge Fund, managed and run by the UK’s Department for International Development and administered by the State Bank of Pakistan.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021