Business Need

The client’s complicated, manual auction process, which supported 5,000 users and 2,50,000 daily transactions, was tedious, time-consuming, error-prone, and lacked transparency. Hence, the client wanted an automated bidding system with a settlement process and a system to issue certificates to import and export the produce.

Business Challenge

The impact of digital transformation on the procurement departments has been tremendous, improving their performance and widening their scope. Electronic auctions (e-Auctions) are a major performance lever for procurement departments across the globe. e-Auction has had a transformative effect on procurement, leveling the playing field for all stakeholders (manufacturers, warehouses, auctioneers, and buyers), removing human biases from the equation, and making the process transparent, fair, and efficient. The client, a state agency of the Indian government, promotes the cultivation, processing, and trade (domestic and international) of specific Indian produce and also acts as the marketplace where all key stakeholders engage and collaborate for a transparent and fair Farm-to-Market auction process. The client’s existing manual auction process, managing more than 5,000 users and 2,50,000 transactions a day, had the following shortcomings:

• Manual, lengthy, and time-consuming auction process.
• Non-transparent systems, price discovery, and lack of anonymous bidding have led to rampant malpractices.
• Delayed invoicing and settlement.
• To address these challenges, the client wanted an automated bidding system with an integrated settlement process and import or export certificate issuance of the produce.

Business Solution

NuSummit brought the immense force of digitalization to revolutionize the client’s auction process through India’s first fully automated e-Auction platform. Our end-to-end services included developing, implementing, integrating, modifying, and maintaining the e-Auction solution’s software applications and allied services. The agile, integrated, and robust e-Auction platform has the following features:

• One-stop automated solution: The solution automated the complete auction cycle, including pre-auction, auction, and post-auction facilities, as well as the final delivery of the produce and its invoicing.
• Location agnostic: The solution enabled the stakeholders (manufacturers, warehouses, auctioneers, buyers, and auction admins) to operate anytime, from anywhere. This improved the auction’s efficiency and participation, even from small-size buyers.
• Cloud-hosted: The application is hosted on the cloud, enabling high availability, security, and cost savings. The cloud has also delivered a seamless user experience and made the system highly scalable.
• Transparent, free, and fair process: The e-Auction solution ensures fair price discovery through buyer anonymity. It has also established visibility and transparency across all stakeholders. Further, the solution identifies demand and pricing trends using various marks compared to similar comparable marks via post-auction information.
• Fully automated feature-rich system: The auction catalog is available online with a planner, offline bidding, and a My Catalog feature. The settlement process is faster via the electronic movement of contract notes and delivery orders. The system provides the provision to configure rules, auction types, etc., to automate the bidding process.
• User-friendly interface: A web interface for the manufacturers and warehouses to key in the invoices and arrival and weighment reports (AWRs) from their respective offices. The auctioneers and buyers log in to a Windows-based application to create the catalog and bid on the auctions. 
• Digital payments: By removing cash transactions and implementing digital payments, we have supported the government’s vision of digital payments.
• Certificate interface: An interface for importers and exporters to upload their produce and warehouse details and instantly generate import or export clearance certificates.

NuSummit utilized its extensive experience and technology expertise to craft the E-Auction platform that opened more opportunities for the client’s business and shifted them to greater transparency in the new digital world. It connected stakeholders from around the world and enhanced the auction process’s transparency, fairness, efficiency, participation, and security.

The system enables:

• 250,000 auction transactions daily
• <10 millisecond latency
• >100GB data handling daily

Tech Stack

Frameworks and Platforms:

• Microsoft .NET

Programming Languages:

• Microsoft Visual C++
• C#

Database Management:

• Microsoft SQL Server

Web Development:

• ASP.NET