The Rise of Agritech Startups in India
The Indian agritech sector has huge untapped potential. It is evident that Agriculture, as an industry, is an extremely important area in perspective with Economy. The agritech startups in India are gaining momentum. Even, the tech awareness among farmers is on the rise, driven by high internet penetration and mobile connectivity. Government interventions like creation of incubators, awarding grants and concentrated efforts on public-private partnerships, are also paving the way for the development of this sector.
It is pertinent to mention that, India’s agritech startup journey commenced with 43 startups and now, India has more than 1,000 such startups in its kitty, and many of them are on the path to becoming unicorns as well.
India’s agritech start-ups have been growing at 25% YoY. The start-ups have raised more than Rs. 1,840 crore (US$ 250 million) in venture funding in 2019. This was three times the amount of funding raised in 2018. The sector is forecast to attract more than Rs. 3,680 crore (US$ 500 million) in the next few years.
Innovation & Agri-Entrepreneurship Development
With the objective of promoting innovation and agri-entrepreneurship, the Ministry of Agriculture has implemented a programme called ‘Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development’ under the umbrella of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY_RAFTAAR). Launched in 2018-19, the programme extended financial and technical support for nurturing agri startups including agritech startups using digital techniques.
The aim of the programme is to contribute directly and indirectly to enhance the income of farmers by providing employment opportunities to young entrepreneurs.
In a written reply in Lok Sabha, the Union Minister of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar stated that – 5 Knowledge Partners (KPs) as Center of Excellence and 24 RKVY-RAFTAAR Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) have been appointed from across the country for implementation of this programme.
A total of 799 start-ups in the field of agriculture and allied sectors have been provided technical and financial support under the Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development programme.
Process of releasing funds in this scheme
Under the Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship programme of RKVY, funds are released to KPs and R-ABIs and not state-wise. One R-ABI has been established in Chaudhary Charan Singh University (CCSU), Hisar for supporting startups in the agriculture & allied sector in Haryana. Selected agritech startups using digital techniques may take technical and financial support at the incubation center established in CCSU, Hisar, Haryana under the programme for benefitting farmers including from Karnal.
Anand Agriculture University, Anand, Gujarat is one of the R-ABIs under this scheme to promote agriculture start-ups in Gujarat.
Other Government Schemes
The government has been a catalyst in the growth of the agritech sector. It has established the National Center for Management and Agricultural Extension in Hyderabad (MANAGE).
The government is also planning to grant Rs. 2,000 crore (US$ 270 million) for computerisation of the Primary Agricultural Credit Society (PACS), with the primary aim of benefitting cooperatives through digital technology.
The Indian government has lent a strong impetus to this sector and aims to double the income of farmers by 2022-23. Another initiative is the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), which facilitates retrieval of data and data entry from web-based portals via a regular mobile phone (without using the Internet). They are operationalizing more than a dozen services of innovative technologies, such as USSD, for farmers and other stakeholders in the supply chain. In addition, there have been many favorable government policies and initiatives such as PM-KISAN, PM-AASHA and PM-KMY among others that are uplifting farmers and benefiting stakeholders across the value chain. It seems that agritech is now uniquely poised for disruption via technology.
