Blog

Agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy, and is estimated to contribute nearly 18 percent to India’s GDP. 

Government efforts to boost credit availability, and credit market facilities, improve investments, and promote infrastructure development in the sector have not gone unnoticed. And while it has moved on from being a traditional agriculture sector to one that is modern in its approach, it still faces many challenges due to a lack of technical facilities and financial services. 

There are many startups working in the space to fill this gap and make farmers’ lives more comfortable and easier by offering them various solutions and strengthening the Indian agriculture ecosystem.

In today’s listicle, YourStory brings to you startups that are offering agri financial solutions.

Samunnati

Founded by Anilkumar SG in 2014, Chennai-based Samunnati is an agri-fintech startup that works towards improving market linkages for India’s smallholder farmers, making credit more accessible at every step of the agri-value chain.

The startup specialises in value chain finance, financial services, agricultural finance, agri-value chains, and market linkages, to name a few.

The startup operates as a B2B2C model; and earns on loans and market linkage fees when transactions happen.

The startup’s aim is to differentiate itself from India’s existing agri-financiers and farmer welfare policies. It also aims to solve the working capital needs of smallholder farmers and agri-SMEs.

Jai Kisan

Founded in 2017 by Arjun Ahluwalia and Adriel Maniego, Mumbai-based rural fintech platform Jai Kisanis building a rural fintech full-stack platform to cater to financial needs of customers in rural emerging markets.

The startup offers cheap financing options for equipment, invoice financing, and input for rural borrowers, accessible at their fingertips, or at any of its partners’ tech-enabled locations.

The startup aims to make financial inclusion a reality for rural individuals and businesses. It offers digital financial services that begin with credit for offline and online transactions, rural commerce transactions, and income generation.

The startup leverages the relationship between businesses, farmers, and rural individuals in a B2B2C manner to deploy credit to rural individuals and farmers.

FarMart

Founded in 2015 by Alekh Sanghera and Mehtab Singh Hans, Gurugram-based FarMart supports smallholder farmers in getting access to low-cost digital loans to allow them to purchase products at the point of sale.

It offers farmers a virtual credit card to buy high-quality seeds, fertilisers, and other agricultural inputs on credit.

The startup provides a micro-SaaS platform that enables retailers to digitise their workflow, increase sales to farmers and conduct their existing business in a more efficient manner.

FarMart also helps retailers procure commodities from farmers and sell them directly to large enterprises through its platform, opening up a completely new source of revenue for them.

AgriGator

This Bhopal-based B4B digital platform, founded in 2019 by Udit Sangwan and Charu Chaturvedi, solves problems for the agribusiness supply chain.

The startup aims to provide a one-stop solution to the inefficiencies in the agricultural supply chain market by facilitating trade and logistics services between sellers, buyers, and carrier providers in return for a small commission on every transaction.

The startup focuses primarily on mill owners and processors.

AgriGator is currently operating in Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujrat, Haryana, and Chhattisgarh.

The startup is built on a customer-centric ecosystem by catering to their various needs, innumerable growth opportunities, and utilising the existing infrastructure for customers.

AgriGator was formed with the idea to rectify gaps in the agri-supply chain varying from trust in trade to on-spot logistic arrangement to financing the trade.

Arya.ag

Noida-based arya.ag aims to help farmers solve these challenges using its warehouse network and credit solutions.

“Our work required deep exposure to agro markets. A clear takeaway was that banks mainly served larger intermediaries and traders in tertiary agricultural markets, and the true benefits of banking services were yet to reach producers in the hinterland,” Prasanna says.

The startup aims to eliminate the trust deficit in the grain commerce value chain through its integrated pan-India platform.

Arya.ag connects sellers and buyers of agri-produce with complete assurance on quantity, quality, and payments.