Companies of Farmers

Abstract

Farmer Producer Companies (FPCs) originated in a Committee I chaired on preparing a Draft Bill for it, which led to the Second Amendment to the Companies Act 2002 (GOI, The companies second amendment bill, 2001, 2002) which gave a legal status to Farmers Producers Companies. There were, in fact, just a handful of such companies initially, and the first big critique came from the corporate sector. Homi Irani said that Farmer Producer Companies were, as he had convinced the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), not corporate companies. I agreed but took the position that we could experiment with organisational forms. They wouldn’t agree so we lobbied and the FPCs were hurriedly kept in the 2012 Companies Bill, in a footnote, as it was to be followed by an ‘appropriate Bill’. Initially there were only a few FPCs. In some States the Registrar of Companies was favourable. In others not, but National Apex Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD) set up a fund to finance Farmer Producer Companies. Now FPCs are abundant. The corporate sector has taken to them. They face problems but have a bright future.

Yoginder K. Alagh, Chancellor of Central University, Gujurat & Emeritus Professor; India; Email: yalagh@gmail.com