AGMARK is a certification mark that is awarded to agricultural products in India. It is awarded to those products that conform to the set of standards set approved by the Directorate of Marketing & Inspection (DMI) and the Agricultural Produce (Grading and Marketing) Act of 1937 (and amended in 1986). The AGMARK standards cover quality standards and guidelines for 227 different commodities (including a wide variety of pulses, cereals, essential oils, vegetable oils, fruits, vegetables, different food products and beverages made from such products, and semi-processed food products like vermicelli). The certification process involves registration and the testing of products at state-owned AGMARK laboratories situated in different parts of the country. AGMARK certification is crucial in assuring the customers and general public regarding the quality and authenticity of the products. 

The applicant for the registration should get the required application form either from the DMI website (https://dmi.gov.in) or the nearest DMI office. The application for the Certification of Authorisation for Grading and Marking of commodities intended for the domestic market is Form-A. The necessary documents are to be annexed to the application form along with the prescribed application fee. The fee is to be submitted in the form of a demand draft and will vary according to the kind of commodity to be certified as mentioned in the application forms and annexures. This fee would include various charges like grading fee, process fee, etc. 

The eligibility criteria for an applicant applying for an AGMARK grading and certification of a notified commodity are:

• The applicant must have the required infrastructure to process the commodity.
• The applicant must have their own laboratory for grading purposes or must have access to an approved laboratory. Once the applicant has access to the laboratory, a consent letter approved under AGMARK must be furnished under form A-3.
• An approved chemist must test the raw material and the processed commodity before packing it in containers.

If these conditions are met, the applicant may apply for a Certificate of Authorisation, which would be granted after a verification process that takes about 30-40 days. Once the certificate is granted, DMI field agents will carry out regular checks of the graded commodity by comparing samples from the market to those obtained from the packer’s

premises. The Certificate of Authorisation’s renewal can be done for a sum of Rs. 5000 using the Form A-4.

The documents that are required to be annexed along with the application form are:

• Authenticating documents with respect to the establishment of the firm like the registration certificate; the Memorandum of Association if the firm is a Limited company; or Partnership Deed if the firm is a Partnership company. 
• Name and postal address of the firm along with the contact details of the company.
• The complete address of the premises where the grading and the certification of the commodity will be carried out.
• The name of the commodities that are to be graded.
• A copy of the test report of the commodity, which is authenticated by an independent AGMARK-recognized laboratory.
• Sachets of the product samples.
• Details of the previous year’s turnover.
• Total Gross Product (in Kgs) of the previous year.