A Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has recommended that southern states implement the Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) Act to free the farmer from state controls on movement, storage, and marketing of agricultural commodities. They also encouraged that the states establish a commodity exchange to facilitate futures trading of agricultural produce. The five southern states have been reducing their investments in agriculture as a percentage of their total budget: Andhra Pradesh 4.6%, Karnataka 4.8%, Kerala 5.1%, Tamil Nadu 7.5%, and Pondicherry 10.2%. The CII also recommended that the states invite private sector to own and operate wholesale distribution centers and encouraged changes to town planning laws to allow a more modern distribution network, The APMC allows farmers to sell their produce contractually to corporations and also do not have to go through convoluted processes to sell their goods. They also asked for simplification of taxes such as the creation of a common value-added tax structure on a uniform and rationalized minimum pricing and the abolition of a "mandi" tax (market tax) that diminishes competitive advantage. The CII believes that these simple changes will increase the state GDPs substantially.