The data-capturing work starts at the wholesale mandis (colloquial terms for markets). When the farmers arrive at these mandis with their crops, the market committee-a specially constituted body-announces the commodity prices through an auction. It happens 3-4 times a day at the time of arrivals. At the end of the day, the prices-minimum, maximum, and modal-are decided for each commodity, and the data is entered at the front-end PCs installed at the mandi office. Then the operator uploads the data using a dial-up Internet connection. The data is downloaded at the office of the Directorate of Marketing & Inspection, Ministry of Agriculture, at Faridabad. There a panel of economists checks the data authenticity. After evaluation and analysis at Faridabad, the refined data is uploaded on the NIC server installed at Delhi, from where it's made available for global use. The farmers can access the prices for a commodity at their local information centers, say, Internet kiosks generally run by NGOs or self-help groups. Keeping in view the transport and other logistics, they can sell their produce at a market that offers maximum price.

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