New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Pralhad Joshi, launched a suite of digital initiatives to modernise warehousing, streamline supply chains and boost transparency across the Public Distribution System, a report said on Tuesday.

Such initiatives support the Union government’s mission of reducing logistics costs and minimising turnover time, the Union Minister said, according to an official statement.

The centrepiece of these digital initiatives launched is Central Warehousing Corporation’s new ERP platform, Bhandaran 360, built on SAP S/4HANA and integrating 41 modules covering HR, finance, marketing, warehouse management, contract management, project monitoring and other core functions, the statement said.

It is also linked with 35 external systems, including ICEGATE, port systems, FCI, NAFED, NCCF and WDRA, enabling seamless digital connectivity across the food storage and movement ecosystem.

Bhandaran 360 introduces single sign‑on, role‑based access, end‑to‑end encryption, audit trails, and real‑time dashboards to improve security and reduce manual dependency and to show operations from the warehouse level to the corporate level.

It also introduced automated workflows using chatbots and robotic process automation to improve turnaround time, the statement added.

The upgraded platform also adds several new features, such as a lead and marketing management module, integrated HRMS, project planning, SAP FICO, smart material management, biometric and geo-tagged attendance, a mobile app for measurement books, and strengthened contract monitoring.

These enhancements standardise operations across all CWC warehouses and support faster expansion, better service quality and improved accountability.

It helps ease of doing business and ease of living for farmers, FPOs, cooperatives, traders, MSME’s and large enterprises, including e-commerce players.

The Food Corporation of India (FCI) also rolled out ANNA DARPAN, a new microservices-based platform that replaces the existing Depot Online System.

ANNA DARPAN connects key activities such as procurement, storage, movement, sales, quality checks, labour management and contract monitoring under one integrated system.

–IANS

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