The newly elected Chairman of NCCF Vishal Singh is bubbling with business ideas as he takes command of the apex consumer co-op body in the country. Stating that there is a strong undercurrent of the consumer movement in the country, Vishal said the NCCF would fulfil the government’s goal of protecting consumers’ interest through its vast network of member societies.
Thanking the Consumer ministry and the Central govt for their support and handholding, the NCCF Chairman asserted that most of the business for the NCCF has come from the govt of India only. When this correspondent referred to the spat between the NCCF and the Ministry in the past, Vishal said “Times evolve and we are moving forward with the ministry’s support today.
Having 24 branches and a turnover of Rs 3500 crore in the current fiscal, the NCCF clocked a profit of Rs 24 crore-a far cry from a few years back when it hit the media headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Having been made one of the promoters along with Amul, Nafed, NDDB and NCDC in the national Organic multistate co-op society, today it rubs shoulders with the creme dela creme of the co-op world.
Unfazed by a stalemate in supply of parboiled rice to Bangladesh, the NCCF Chairman Vishal Singh says though the NCCF is yet to hear from Bangladesh on the issue, there is no dearth of work for the apex consumer cooperative as of now.
Be it pulse, onion or Urad, the NCCF is busy importing them, procuring them and selling them, said Vishal in his office located at the NCUI headquarters in Delhi. The NCCF has imported more than 1.25 metric tonnes of onion to stabilize the price of the same in the Indian market, informed Vishal who was recently elected by Board members to head the consumer body as its Chairman.
We have imported one lakh metric tonne of pulses from Myanmar and Tanzania; while the process of importing Urad has already begun, informed Vishal.
Besides imports, efforts to procure more than one metric lakh tonnes of pulse from the domestic market are also going on, said Vishal underlining that the NCCF has more than 152-member societies spread across states to achieve this goal without much difficulty.
Listing the NCCF presence and its strong network, the Chairman claimed that states like Maharashtra, UP, Assam, north eastern states and many more have strong consumer movement.
Thanking the NCCF Board for its unwavering support, Vishal said that the NCCF would soon grow manyfold. Vishal went on telling in how many ways the govt of India is helping the NCCF and stated that “Bharat Atta” currently processed and sold by NAFED would also soon be packaged by the NCCF. We have also been allotted the job, he added.
The NCCF also has plans to value add agri produce as done by Nafed but it will take time. As of now we lack expertise but we hope to do so later. Today NCCF wishes to focus on what it can do the best, underlined Vishal. We are learning and acquiring necessary technical skills for the same, he said.
Some of the retail counters which were wound up during the lean phase of the NCCF would also be revived, said the Chairman. We have spaces across states and we look forward to opening retail outlets, sometimes directly and at some places with the help of the PPP model, he stated.
