History of WR ( warehouse receipt) started from the day of 1960s when the warehouse receipt used to be issued by warehouse man under the different state warehouses act. Thereafter in the years of 1980s this instrument of warehouse receipt became the symbol of hundi where the traders and farmers used to keep this warehouse receipt in the custody of landlords and money lenders and took loan and Finance against the warehouse receipt hypothecated with the landlords /money lenders, is this instrument of warehouse receipt used to be considered as a safety or the guarantee from the warehouse is that there the stock mentioned in the warehouse receipt is safe and can be handed over to the person in whose name the endorsement is given by the owner of the warehouse receipt. This way the confidence built up started amongst the Financial Institutions also against the guarantee being given and understood to be given by the warehouse man for the stocks and details mentioned in the warehouse receipt. Thereafter this became the practice of the day and there used to be huge financial transactions of the cost of commodities along with the quality and quantity mentioned in the warehouse receipts.
But in the above practice off day today transactions and transfers of warehouse receipts from one person to another person there started some legal complications also when the dishonest elements came into the scene of warehousing and then it was realised that some legal status has to be given to this warehouse receipt so that legal problems may not arise and the transfer of warehouse receipt becomes smooth and easy and with this idea concept of Negotiable warehouse receipt started on which various committees of the government along with the committee of Reserve Bank of India started working on it and came out with the suggestion of making negotiable warehouse receipt and its regulation by some authority and later on this concept was tabled in the form of Bill in the Parliament and and Act was passed named as warehousing development and Regulation Act 2007 under which authority named as w d r a came into existence in 2010 under which provision for converting of these warehouse receipts into electronic negotiable warehouse receipt was mentioned and after making great efforts by various experts on this field concept of electronic negotiable warehouse receipt emerged and wdra started working on this concept and came out with a idea of making available the services of electronic repository for keeping the data store of different commodities being stored in the warehouses and details their of are issued in the form of warehouses receipt, just on the line of the depositories keeping the records of dats being stored for the stocks like, equities and shares.
To bring about the above concept of eNWR into practice, WDRA came with appointing two repositories namely NERL and CCRL in September 2017 after making detailed guidelines for the repositories.
The eNWRs issued by the warehoused are kept and stored on the electronic platform of the repositories and are just like digital money, wherein the farmers can sell the commodities mentioned on these enwr when the farmer finds that the price of the commodity is reasonable and to his satisfaction for which he has expected the price for the commodities produced by him so that he is suitably compensated for the labour and investment he has made in producing the agricultural commodities. And in case he does not get the desired price then he has another option of this platform of repository by keeping his eNWR under pledge so that the same stocks can be his source of raising loans from the Financial Institutions and banks.
It would be a game-changer for farmers. when their commodities are dematerialised in the repositories, wherein all the. Data and details of commodity under storage in a warehouse is accessible online to the banks and other financial institutions so that they are fully convinced that stocks being kept under pledge with them is guaranteed for the money recovery and hence they will be very happy to give loans to the owner of the stocks, who is either a farmer or a trader, and they would have easier access to institutional farm loans, at lower rates also.
The eNWRs have distinct advantages over the paper-based receipts. They allow farmers or depositors to have access to a large number of buyers across the country and thus would increase their bargaining power. They can do multiple transfers without physical movement of goods.
Moreover, farmers don’t even have to cart their produce to the market for selling. Once sold, the buyer would be able to pick up the purchased commodity from where it has been stored.
Even consumers of these agricultural commodities such as industries, processors, wholesalers and retailers benefit as they will be able to procure graded produce with a seal of quality assurance,
Although the repository namely NERL is making good efforts with Quality Services being given to all the respective stakeholders , whether it is the warehouse man or a farmer or a trader or a repository Participant, it is the NERL, which is making full efforts every time with all the dedication for increasing its services by making more and more eNWR, in its repository and facilitating the transfer and pledging of the commodity for the help of the depositors and farmers to get the remunerative prices of the producers and relieve them from the financial stress.
For achieving above target of relieving farmers from the financial stress and getting the remunerative prices the nerl is making all efforts as its team and key management personnel are very much devoted and in spite of many bottlenecks.
In order to review and assess viability and functioning of the repository nd also for easy movement and transfer of eNWR,and the bottlenecks in the existing system, it is very much essential to have a proper analysis about the functioning of the whole ecosystem of the eNWR.
All across globe, a well-functioning warehouse receipt financing system based on public warehouses has the potential to reduce risks and transaction costs in collateralised financing, which may result in broad-based access to such financing and low costs. However, for this to be achieved, an enabling legal environment and institutional set-up need to be in place to instil trust in the system among financiers and commodity market participants and to safeguard its integrity. Only when the financial community has a high degree of confidence in the system will it lend against warehouse receipts, and interest rates will be reduced. Core elements of a well-developed warehouse receipt system include:
1 an enabling legal and regulatory framework;
2 a regulatory and supervisory agency;
3 licensed and supervised public warehouses;
4 insurance and financial performance guarantees;
5 banks familiar with the use of warehouse receipts.
Despite the differences among countries and legal traditions, an enabling legal framework should clearly define the following issues and related rules and procedures: i) the warehouse receipt’s legal status as a document of title or pledge; ii) rights and obligations of the depositor and the warehouse operator; iii) perfection of security interests (registration of the warehouse receipt or pledge); iv) protection of the warehouse receipt against fraud, and financial performance guarantees; v) priority for the claims of the holder of the warehouse receipt in case of borrower default or bankruptcy; and vi) clear procedures in case of bankruptcy of the warehouse operator and for the administration of financial performance guarantees.
Warehousing development & regulation Act 2007 was also meant to achieve the same objects, but the Act has not been designed to sync the basic and fundamental principles of commodity market financing as the Act has to achieve the basic goal of guarantee and trust of the warehouse receipt because of no powers to authority (WDRA) and hence teeth-less and which has to depend again on juridical proceedings for taking action against the defaulters. Secondly punitive actions are so harsh that no warehouse service provider will like to opt for registration. The punishments shall be for the regulatory lapses in the mechanism and system.But surprisingly the Act directly jumps into conclusive frauds and losses. It is a common sense that if the detailed mechanism for lapses found in different stages are worked out in the rules and the financial punitive powers are given to the Authority, then definitely a sense of regulatory control will lead to the desired level of collateral trusts in the ecosystem of financial performance guarantee..
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