Birlasoft to computerise Azadpur mandi by 2007

New Delhi, May 29: Birlasoft Ltd, sofware application development provider, today said it has bagged a Rs 1.5 crore contract by the Agricultural Produce Market Committee (APMC) for the computerisation of the Azadpur mandi here by next year.

Out of the Rs 1.5 crore, Rs one crore will be spent on creation of software (Integrated Mandi Management System) and the rest on maintenance for three years, an official statement issued here said.

The main objectives of the computerisation are ease of administration and reduction in manual work and improving revenue generation and collection from market activities.

Improving the quality of service and information to all the market functionaries and farmers and centralised storage and access to internal and market related data are some of the other objectives of the computerisation.

Significantly, Birlasoft is already working on the automation of 82 mandis controlled by the UP Agriculture Marketing Board. Their rollout shall happen in September 2006.

The Azadpur mandi was declared as 'Market of National Importance' on January 7, 2004 and has assumed the character of a national distribution center for important fruits like apple, banana, orange and mango and vegetables like potato, onion, garlic and ginger.

Most of the agriculture produce comes from the northern hill states of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Birlasoft Ltd is the information technology arm of the 1.2 billion dollar C K Birla Group.

UNI