Digitalization is changing how apples are traded in Himachal Pradesh, says Milan Sharma, CEO of Intello Labs. "When Adani Agri Fresh decided to modernize the Himachal mandis, our previous collaboration on apple grading helped build trust, and we jointly designed the country's first digital marketplace for apples, Adani Digital Mandi."
India's fruit trade depends heavily on traditional mandi or wholesale market systems, which Sharma says come with many challenges. "Manual grading, opaque pricing, and multiple intermediaries mean farmers often do not get rewarded fairly for quality, and buyers face inconsistent produce." He explains how the digital market addresses this by standardizing quality through automated grading and digital weighing, introducing transparent price discovery via real-time auctions, and ensuring traceability from orchard to buyer.
Sharma notes these digital mandis are a natural evolution in Indian agri infrastructure, supported by growing smartphone usage and digital payments. "For crops like apples, where quality matters, digital mandis enable nationwide buyer participation remotely, fair and prompt payments to farmers, and reliable data for governments and financiers."
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Farmers and buyers can get on board with the entire process operating digitally, highlights Sharma. "Each farmer registers to receive a digital ID, and every apple lot is tagged and graded automatically into quality bands such as Premium, Gold, and Silver. Farmers can choose between live digital auctions or a base price sale, guaranteeing floor prices for instant liquidity. Payments are settled within hours, and all transactions are recorded transparently on Intello Labs' Mandi Pro platform."
Sharma shares that the early impact is positive. "Farmers are seeing 10 to 15% higher realizations while buyers are appreciative of consistent quality and faster procurement, and disputes are dropping sharply," Sharma explains. The digital mandi also runs more efficiently by improving turnaround times and logistics with standardized packaging and load planning.
Looking ahead, Sharma says the plan is to expand beyond apples. "Our goal is to develop the Digital Mandi into a national horticulture exchange. The next crops to be included are pomegranates, oranges, and potatoes, where grading and freshness are especially important. Integration of AI-driven demand forecasting, truck load optimization, and CA storage linkages is also a priority."
On recent weather impacts, Sharma points to unseasonal rains and hail reducing premium apple output but notes that digital grading and storage have helped stabilize supply to some extent by segregating and preserving the better-quality fruit. "We expect prices to remain firm through October due to limited premium stock and steady demand. The Digital Mandi is more than a tech project; it aims to rebuild trust and transparency in Indian horticulture," Sharma concludes.
For more information:
Milan Sharma
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