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Agribiotechnology, Agribusiness, Agrotech, Award, Digital Technologies, India, Interaction, IT, R&D

AgroSpectrum Technovate 2025 will serve as a key platform for agritech entrepreneurs, farmers, agri-professionals, researchers, academics, policymakers, investors, and NGOs.

AgroSpectrum is proud to announce AgroSpectrum Technovate 2025, an exclusive two-day summit designed to bring together the brightest minds and innovators in the agritech sector. Set to take place on March 12-13, 2025, at the CIDCO Exhibition & Convention Center, Navi Mumbai, this event will offer an unparalleled opportunity to explore transformative solutions that are revolutionising agriculture.

Under the theme “Transforming Agriculture Through Innovation and Emerging Technologies,”. AgroSpectrum Technovate 2025 will serve as a key platform for agritech entrepreneurs, farmers, agri-professionals, researchers, academics, policymakers, investors, and NGOs. The summit promises a dynamic environment where participants can engage with global thought leaders, discover cutting-edge technologies, and forge valuable collaborations to drive the future of agriculture.

At this summit, you will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights from keynote speeches delivered by leading agritech experts. The event will feature in-depth panel discussions on key topics such as Smart Farming, Biotechnology, IoT, and more. In addition to expert insights, the summit will provide ample networking opportunities with top professionals, investors, and innovators. The AgroSpectrum Awards will also recognize and celebrate excellence in innovation and sustainability within the agritech industry. Furthermore, the event will host the Ideate Competition, supporting emerging startups and breakthrough solutions that are shaping the future of agriculture.

Highlights of the event:

Keynote Sessions:

Gain exclusive insights from industry giants and pioneers who are leading the charge in agritech innovation.

Panel Discussions:

Dive into in-depth discussions on vital topics such as Smart Farming, Biotechnology, IoT, and more, with experts at the forefront of the industry.

Ideation Forums:

Participate in high-impact forums that focus on solving pressing challenges and developing forward-thinking strategies for the agricultural sector.

Networking Opportunities:

Connect with top professionals, investors, innovators, and policymakers to foster meaningful collaborations that could define the future of agritech.

AgroSpectrum Awards:

Celebrate the best and brightest in agritech, sustainability, and innovation through the AgroSpectrum Awards, recognizing exceptional contributions from startups, organizations, and individuals.

Nominate Now: https://agrospectrumindia.com/technovate2025/awards.php

Ideate Competition:

Support groundbreaking startups and innovations with the Ideate Competition, a platform for emerging solutions that promise to disrupt and enhance the agritech landscape.

Why Attend Technovate 2025?

For Associations:

Engage with a global network of stakeholders and amplify your influence in the agritech space.

For Sponsors:

Gain unparalleled brand visibility and connect directly with potential clients, partners, and collaborators.

For Academia:

Showcase your cutting-edge research, build industry connections, and explore funding and partnership opportunities.

For Partners:

Collaborate on innovative projects and drive impactful solutions that will shape the future of agriculture.

For more details and registration, visit https://agrospectrumindia.com/technovate2025

Join us at this premier event for a transformative experience that will reshape the future of agriculture!

AgroSpectrum Technovate 2025 will serve as a

Agribusiness, Dairy, India, Industry Reports / Analysis

 India is anticipated to reach significant milestones in 2025 in floriculture, horticulture, fisheries, poultry, and dairy through the effective application of biological solutions and advanced agricultural technologies.

 Agriculture, one of the oldest industries in human history, is experiencing a transformation that is both swift and essential. Encountering issues such as climate change, limited resources, and the increasing needs of a burgeoning global population, the industry is adopting creative approaches to ensure its future. Agriculture is a constantly evolving sector that offers significant potential for expansion. The shift towards sustainability and the incorporation of technology is generating numerous new opportunities for innovation. In 2025, the agricultural sector presents numerous opportunities for innovation, expansion, and profit-making. The future of agriculture is promising and diverse, featuring a range of solutions from tech-driven innovations to sustainable farming practices. The agriculture sector in India is expected to gain further momentum in the next few years due to increased investment in agricultural infrastructure such as irrigation facilities, warehousing, and cold storage. Furthermore, the growing use of technology will help the sector and farmers to improve the yield and overall crop production. Thanks to government initiatives and assistance, India is anticipated to achieve self-sufficiency in pulses and edible oil seeds in the next few years. Moreover, the nation is anticipated to reach significant milestones in 2025 in floriculture, horticulture, fisheries, poultry, and dairy through the effective application of biological solutions and advanced agricultural technologies. In the following pages, we have included articles from specialists and industry authorities discussing various agricultural sectors and their anticipated status in 2025.

Dairy remains committed to sustainability and environmental consciousness  

The Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) of the US Department of Agriculture in New Delhi projects that India’s overall milk production will reach 216.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) by 2025. This increase is linked to a larger herd of milking animals, enhanced governmental backing for the dairy industry, the anticipated persistence of favourable weather, elevated milk prices, and no significant disease outbreaks. The anticipated increase in milk supply is projected to enhance the production of butter and non-fat dry milk (skim milk powder (SMP)), with these products expected to achieve 7.2 MMT and 0.8 MMT, respectively. Demand-driven elements such as an increasing population, higher disposable income, and various physical factors are propelling the domestic consumption of fluid milk, butter, and SMP, anticipated to hit 91 MMT, 7.1 MMT, and 0.8 MMT, respectively.

Custom Markets Insights forecasts that Indian Dairy Market (valued at $131.5 billion in 2024) is expected to reach $290.8 billion by 2033, at a CAGR of 8.01 per cent during 2024 – 2033. Further Crisil anticipates a revenue boost of 13-14 per cent for FY 2024-25, fuelled by strong consumer demand and better raw milk supply. Dairy plays a pivotal role in supporting the Indian economy by ensuring nutritional security, addressing challenges of hunger and malnutrition in the country and generating employment opportunities.

It is quite interesting to note, that, while global milk production is growing at a steady rate of 2 per cent, India showcases growth in milk production by an impressive rate of 6 per cent.

The sector alone contributes 5 per cent to the national economy, directly employing around 80 million farmers, the majority of whom are women. As the nation marches towards becoming the third largest economy in the world, the contribution of the dairy sector is expected to be huge. During FY 2023-24, the country exported 63,738.47 metric tonnes (MT) of dairy products worth $272.64 million, with major export destinations being the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, USA, Singapore, and Bhutan.

Currently, the dairy sector holds immense potential in terms of investments across Bulk Milk Coolers (BMCs), immersion coolers, advanced milk testing kits as well as technologies like Blockchain technology, RFID tags, IoT and sensor-enabled vehicles and packing systems.

Speaking on shaping dairy’s next big trends, Vamseedhar Reddy K.C., Senior Vice President – Supply Chain & Procurement, Sid’s Farm mentioned,” As we approach 2025, the dairy industry is undergoing significant transformation, shaped by advancements in technology, sustainability, and the growing need for collaboration. The adoption of precision farming, AI-powered analytics, and sustainable practices is set to redefine how dairy products are produced and consumed. These changes are not just about efficiency—they are about creating value across the supply chain, from farmers to consumers.

In fact, from the consumer’s point of view, the packaged fresh milk and Indian skimmed milk powder (SMP) category is expected to grow 3.4 per cent and 13 per cent CAGR respectively from 2021-26. The segment of value-added dairy products can emerge as a lucrative investment zone, with prospects of emerging markets worth $4.2 billion for butter and spreads, promising CAGR growth of 8 per cent.

Government Initiatives

To continue to support the dairy sector, the government had announced an allocation of Rs 15,000 crore for the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF), which was approved by the Union Cabinet on June 24, 2020 under the Atmanirbharbharat Abhiyaan stimulus package for ensuring growth in several sectors. Besides, the government announced  Rs 1790 crore for National Programme for Dairy Development, Rs 2400 crore for Rashtriya Gokul Mission and Rs 4600 crore for Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana. Further, the continuation of the Animal Husbandry Infrastructure Development Fund (AHIDF) was approved by the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying under Infrastructure Development Fund (IDF) with an outlay of Rs 29,610.25 crore during 2025-26. The schemes are intended towards boosting milk and meat processing capabilities as well as enhancing farmers’ price realisation and encouraging exports in the dairy and livestock sector. In order to align the future of dairy with consumer choice, the government has formulated strategies to improve the quality of milk and dairy products while boosting involvement in organised procurement, processing, value addition, and marketing.

According to Invest India, PM Kisan SAMPADA Yojana is expected to attract investment worth Rs 11,095.93 crore, benefiting 28,49,945 farmers and generating 5,44,432 employments across animal husbandry and dairying in the country by the year 2025-26. As of 2023, more than 29.87 lakh Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) were sanctioned for farmers enrolled under several schemes of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy.

To read more click on: https://agrospectrumindia.com/e-magazine

 India is anticipated to reach significant milestones

Agro Universities, Agrotech, R&D, Start ups

The partnership leverages BharatRohan’s unique experience in hyperspectral imaging for crops, focusing on creating a spectral library to improve pest and disease detection in paddy and cotton crops

BharatRohan, a pioneer in providing hyperspectral imagining-enabled drone-based crop monitoring services, is excited to announce a co-innovation partnership with AgHub, the Agri-innovation hub of Professor Jayashankar Telangana State Agricultural University(PJTSAU). This collaborative effort aims to promote a culture of co-innovation, collaboration, and co-creation, facilitating advancements through synergies between Agritech startups and agricultural scientists.

The partnership leverages BharatRohan’s unique experience in Hyperspectral Imaging for crops, focusing on creating a spectral library to improve pest and disease detection in paddy and cotton crops. This initiative is expected to significantly benefit farmers by potentially increasing yields through a reduction in losses caused by pests, such as the Brown Plant Hopper and Pink Bollworm, and diseases like rice blast and boll rot, by 20-30 per cent.

Amandeep Panwar, Co-founder of BharatRohan, commented on the partnership: “This partnership marks a significant milestone in our mission to empower farmers. Utilising hyperspectral technology, we aim to provide invaluable insights leading to healthier crops, reduced input costs, and enhanced yields. Our collaboration with AgHub and PJTSAU underscores our dedication to sustainable and prosperous agriculture.”

The collaboration leverages innovative hyperspectral imaging and advanced drone technology, setting a new benchmark in early detection and intervention for crop management. This integration is anticipated to lead to more sustainable farming practices and healthier crops.

The partnership leverages BharatRohan's unique experience in

AgroPolicy, India, Sustainability

National Conclave aims to discuss and identify comprehensive support systems for Agri Startups in India that will foster innovation, sustainability, and profitability and make their solutions accessible to farmers

Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare in partnership with FICCI, CII & PHDCCI organised a National Conclave ‘Unleashing the Potential of AgriTech Startups for the Benefit of Farmers.’ Secretary, Manoj Ahuja, Additional Secretary, Faiz Ahmed Kidwai, Joint Secretary (RKVY), Ashish Kumar Srivastav and Joint Secretary (Extn.), Samuel Praveen Kumar along with other senior officers from Ministry of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare and representatives of FICCI, CII and PHDCII attended the conclave.

The conclave aimed to discuss and identify comprehensive support systems for Agri Startups in India that will foster innovation, sustainability, and profitability and make their solutions accessible to farmers. The conclave also explored strategies to overcome challenges, leverage technology, and capitalize on market opportunities to empower Agri Startups and drive positive impact in the agriculture sector.

FICCI organised two breakout sessions. The theme for session 1 was “The State Government’s Vital Role in Building Enabling Ecosystem for AgriTech in partnership with state governments”. Session 1 brought out the challenges faced by start-ups at the state level and recommendations on how the state governments can help in building an enabling ecosystem to overcome these. The major recommendations include- creating an AgHub: An inclusive agri innovation ecosystem, Agri Data Management Framework (2023), Creating a nodal agency for start-ups within the state governments, developing a start-up portal with a repository of information, knowledge and schemes with a chatbot facility, Start-up India can include an exclusive website with information on agriculture start-ups.

National Conclave aims to discuss and identify

Agrotech, Company News, IT, R&D, Start ups

Bhaasa is powered by speech recognition that can converse in 10 languages across 80+ dialects

spocto, the world’s leading debt support and risk mitigation platform announced its strategic partnership with KisanServ, a prominent AgriTech company based out of Pune, for the deployment of spocto’s AI driven multilingual voice bot ‘Bhaasa’. Through Bhaasa, Kisanserv would be able to communicate across different languages in real-time with thousands of farmers across 4 states.

Developed within spocto X platform, Bhaasa is a multilingual AI voicebot that communicates in regional dialects and languages, with context recognition capabilities. Powered by Natural Language Processing (NLP), Bhaasa can be integrated with the recovery interface and reduce human intervention, thus saving 30 per cent in resource cost every year for the lenders, while improving the customer experience for delinquent customers by over 47 per cent.

“The agricultural sector holds great significance not only for the government but also for banks. Given our extensive experience in the agricultural domain with banks, we enthusiastically embraced the challenge presented by kisanserv in a different world of agritech. We have developed modules in four languages – Marathi, Hindi, Gujarati and Kannada. This endeavour reflects our commitment to serving the needs of farmers and underscores the importance we place on the agricultural sector and its application to any industry,” said Sumeet Srivastava, CEO & Founder, spocto.

To make Kisanserv communication easily accessible and effective to Indian farmers, even from the remotest parts of India, Kisanserv partnered with spocto to develop a specific module that will solve their use case.

Acknowledging the same, Praveen Tiwary, Co-Founder & CTO, KisanServ, said “On our supply side, We work with thousands of farmers on a daily basis about their produce, and our operations. The challenge is always the variety of languages and the quantum of people we work with daily which leads to efficiency issues. And on our demand side, we have to talk to retail customers across metro cities as we have numerous retail outlets in Maharashtra. We wanted a great uniform communication experience on both sides of the spectrum irrespective of different communication strategies. It’s been a great experience so far with spocto developing 2 different communication strategies for both sides that have led to significant savings for us and led to a great customer satisfaction index when we looked at our feedback score.”

Bhaasa built within the spocto X platform is amongst the first of the many creations of the spocto innovation lab (SIL). SIL was launched late last year and is India’s first innovation lab dedicated to the debt collection segment of banking industries in India and the Middle East. Through an expedited method, SIL is intended to speed the development of disruptive technologies such as AI/ML, big data, data security, and so on. SIL is working with all participants in the collecting ecosystem to prepare for the future by taking a digital-first strategy. Being an NLP collection voice bot with human-like engagement, Bhaasa is powered by speech recognition that can converse in 10 languages across 80+ dialects.

Bhaasa is powered by speech recognition that

Agrotech, E-commerce, Horticulture, India, Start ups, Supply Chain

Consumers can view pesticide test reports for Superplum fruits and see the actual farm where their fruits were grown

Superplum, an agritech startup based out of Noida, recently launched a unique feature that allows consumers to scan a QR code and pay a bonus to the farmer who has grown the food they are eating. Consumers can already view pesticide test reports for Superplum fruits and see the actual farm where their fruits were grown.

All this is possible due to the company’s fully digitised and traceable supply chain that tracks every pack that the consumer receives. Superplum’s end-to-end digitised platform allows granular quality control and analysis of all products. The company works across 20 states and delivers over 20 fruits from the farm to retail stores. 

Shobhit Gupta, the CEO of Superplum, said, “From the outset, our system has been designed to benefit both consumers by getting better quality fruits and farmers by getting them a better share of consumer spending. We also work with farmers and support them to grow high-quality, safe fruits and reduce wastage through investment in cutting-edge technology and an innovative cold chain. If you love the fruits you are eating, it’s now easy to show your appreciation.”

Consumers can view pesticide test reports for

Agrotech, India, Machinery - Pre-harvesting

Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, who is also a deep-rooted researcher, has shared some of the Agritech innovations developed by him with Union Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (IC) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS of Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions Dr Jitendra Singh, at Raj Bhavan. 

Devvrat, who is a great votary of natural farming as a way to avoid the ill effects of chemicals used in conventional farming, said that he has launched a PhD programme in Natural Agriculture by Gujarat University at the Indian Institute of Sustainability (IIS), which will cover various aspects like rural management, environment management, innovation, Agri-entrepreneurship, Agribusiness and Value Chain Management.  He also endorses the idea of an integrated approach to promote Agri-tech Start-ups to make farming easy and more profitable. Dr Jitendra Singh also informed Acharya Devvrat the success of Purple Revolution in J&K is now being replicated in other hilly States with similar climatic conditions like Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and in North-Eastern States as a pilot project

Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat, who is also

AgroPolicy, Agrotech, Allied Industry, Biofuel industry, India, Sugar industry

Nitin Gadkari , Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, while addressing the felicitation programme of National Cogeneration Awards 2022 in Mumbai gave out a few clarion calls for the agri sector. He said, “Over-production of sugar is a problem for the economy; we spend Rs 15 lakh crore” per year for import of petroleum products, hence we need to diversify the agriculture sector towards energy and power sectors”. 

The minister exhorted the industry of the crucial need to focus on alternative fuels with the help of futuristic technologies. “While 65 to 70 per cent of our population depends on agriculture, our agricultural growth rate is 12 to 13 per cent only; the sugarcane industry and farmers are a growth engine for our industry. And the next move should be cogeneration to increase revenue from sugar. The industry should produce less sugar and produce more by-products, embracing the vision for futuristic technologies and using the power of leadership to convert knowledge into wealth. This will enable the farmers to become not only food growers, but energy producers as well,” Gadkari said.

The minister highlighted that while our requirement was 280 lakh tonnes of sugar this year, the production was more than 360 lakh tonnes; this could be utilised due to the situation in Brazil.  However, we need to divert production towards ethanol as the ethanol requirement is very high. “Last year’s capacity was 400 crore litres of ethanol; we have taken a lot of initiatives to increase ethanol production. Now is the time for the industry to plan demand for ethanol, using technologies such as power generators run by bioethanol,” pointed out Gadkari.

The minister reminded the industry that there is scope of using harvesting technologies for cutting of sugarcane. “Harvesting machines can use ethanol as a fuel, making the circular economy possible.”

Gadkari said that the sugar industry faces many problems and that we need rationalisation of power purchase rates; some states are not giving rates as per the central government policy, this is one reason why the sugarcane industry is not economically viable. The minister also urged the industry to raise this matter at appropriate forums.

Nitin Gadkari , Union Minister for Road

Supply Chain

Superplum employs science and technology to increase the shelf life of litchis through a proprietary multi-faceted approach

Superplum, an Indian Agritech company, has built the country’s first modern supply chain to deliver fresh litchis from farms in Muzzafarpur to all over the country. For the first time in India, litchis are being chilled, trimmed, cleaned and packed at the farm level to retain freshness. They are then transported using Superplum’s Fresherator, a proprietary IoT-based transport system that keeps the fruits fresh in an environment that can be remotely monitored and controlled.   

In the past, some litchis would go through a sulphitation process to increase their shelf life but this process made the fruit unfit to consume, due to which it has been banned in several countries. With a promise to deliver safe-to-eat fruits, Superplum employs science and technology to increase the shelf life of litchis through a proprietary multi-faceted approach. 

While these Muzzafarpur Litchis are currently being delivered to stores and homes in Delhi, Gurgaon, Noida and Bengaluru, the company plans to expand their delivery across the country and the world.

Superplum employs science and technology to increase

Company News, Sustainability

This report reflects Corteva’s continued transparency across the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts

Corteva, Inc has released its 2021 Sustainability and ESG Report, providing an update on the company’s progress on its commitment to deliver science-based solutions for addressing the world’s most pressing environmental, economic and social challenges.

This report reflects Corteva’s continued transparency across the company’s environmental, social and governance (ESG) efforts. The 2021 report reinforces the company’s focus on building an agriculture ecosystem where farmers, society and business can thrive, while underscoring Corteva’s commitment to enriching the lives of those who produce and those who consume. 

“The challenges facing society and the planet demand urgent action, and we believe agriculture plays a vital role in providing viable solutions,” said Chuck Magro, Chief Executive Officer, Corteva Agriscience. “By focusing on the areas which we believe will have the greatest impact toward achieving climate positive agriculture, we will create a more resilient and productive food system. We will rely on innovation and technology to guide our journey.”

“We support farmers around the globe with the necessary tools and innovations to produce what our food system demands while conserving resources and sustaining the land,” said Sam Eathington, Chief Technology and Digital Officer, Corteva Agriscience. “The progress in this report outlines the next phase of our sustainability work – and includes concentrated efforts in sustainable innovation, biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, and inclusion, diversity and equity.”

The 2021 Sustainability and ESG Report provides a global update on key social and environmental topics.

This report reflects Corteva's continued transparency across

Agro Universities, Agrotech, Bee keeping

Collaboration for research and technological exchange was explored between the PAU and Israel during the visit

Yair Eshel, Agriculture Attache, Embassy of Israel, visited the Apiculture Unit of the Department of Entomology, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and interacted with apiculture scientists and postgraduate students in apiculture as well as bachelor students in agriculture undergoing an experiential learning programme in commercial apiculture.

Dr DK Sharma, Head of the Department, apprised the visiting member of the progress, achievements and recognitions of the PAU in the discipline of apiculture. He also highlighted the pioneering role of PAU in the successful introduction, multiplication and release of the Italian honey bee in the country.

Dr Pardeep Kumar Chhuneja, Incharge of the Apiculture Unit, shed light on PAU’s strong outreach programme in the promotion of Apiculture, including the training programmes for the Apicultural scientists of other State Agricultural Universities and ICAR Institutes. Dr Chhuneja informed that Yair also visited the PAU Apiary and research and training facilities including various apicultural research labs like diseases diagnostic lab, bee breeding lab, etc.

During the meeting with apiculture scientists of PAU, collaboration for research and technological exchange was explored between the PAU and Israel, particularly for the production and post-harvest handling of bee products, bee breeding, bee pollination and innovative bee husbandry and data recording technologies. The possibilities of training the PAU Apiculture scientists from Israel in advanced Apicultural technologies were also explored. Yair assured full support for the future joint ventures in apiculture including for some specialised training of the PAU bee scientists in Israel.

Collaboration for research and technological exchange was

Agro Universities, AgroPolicy, Floriculture, Start ups

Inaugurated six distillation units under CSIR-IIIM for lavender situated at six different places

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Ministry of Earth Science; MoS of Prime Minister’s Office and Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that Bhaderwah is the potential destination of agri-tech startups of the country.

After inaugurating the country’s first ‘Lavender Festival’ Bhaderwah, the Union Minister described Bhaderwah as the birthplace of India’s Purple Revolution.

“The country’s first National Institute of High Altitude Medicine is being built in Bhaderwah which will attract scholars and researchers not only from India but across the globe generating employment opportunities for the region. The establishment of this institute is proof of developmental initiatives reaching far-flung places at an unprecedented rate compared to the last seventy years,” Dr Singh added.

Referring to the lavender cultivation in the region, Dr Singh said that Lavender is an avenue of employment generation and research opening many paradigms of development for the region. He further said that the agriculturist Bharat Bhushan called the Brand Ambassador of Purple Revolution in India is an inspiration for youth in Jammu and Kashmir toward Start-up culture.

Dr Singh said that under lavender cultivation, potential farmers’ income has not only been doubled but quadrupled.

Dr Singh also inaugurated six distillation units under CSIR-IIIM for lavender situated at six different places. Three MoUs were also signed between CSIR-IIIM Jammu with Agro Voltic Power, Mussoorie Uttarakhand, Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar Punjab and Fine Fragrance Power, Mumbai.

Dr DS Reddy, Director CSIR-IIIM Jammu, Dhanenter Singh, DDC Chairperson, Doda, Sangeeta Bhagat, Vice-Chairperson DDC Doda, Dr Sumit Garola, Nodal Scientist CSIR besides scientists and potential farmers cultivating lavender were present during the festival. Many industrialists and potential farmers were felicitated during the lavender festival.

Inaugurated six distillation units under CSIR-IIIM for

Agrotech, Finance

To connect to half a million farmers

Bengaluru-based leading digital aggregator in Agritech space, Ergos The Grain Bank, aims to further expand the footprint to 650 locations with revenue growth of upto Rs 1,800-2,000 crore by 2023-24. Ergos The Grain Bank has scaled across 26 districts in Bihar, 10 districts in Karnataka and 17 districts in Maharashtra with over 1,45,000 farmers actively engaging on the technology-based platform. They are adding 400-450 new farmers every day on its tech platform. After huge success in Bihar, the company aims to strengthen its presence in Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra and enter few new agriculturally rich states in the country.

Ergos, CTO, Umesh Gowda, said, “Grain digitalisation is building a scalable, mobile-first technical platform where Ergos intervenes in the entire life cycle of the farmer using technology. We are also gearing towards monitoring the crops through satellite images, provide soil-based crop and input advisory, and produce-market connect, everything in real time, through Smart-Price-Engine.”

Grain bank enables farmers to convert their grains into tradable digital assets, avail credit like overdraft facility against those assets through partner Banks and NBFCs in few minutes, and get better prices for their produce with a scope to optimise their income by 30-40 per cent in one season easily.

Kishor Jha, Founder & CEO, Ergos The Grain Bank, said, “Ergos has proven its business model in Bihar and recently entered the other key markets. With the response from the farming community and food processors, we aim to grow 3X growth Y-o-Y comfortably with a targeted revenue of Rs 1800-2000 crore by next year.”

Nearly 50 per cent of the households in the vicinity of the Ergos Grain Bank location are connected through smart phones today, indicating how out of 140 million farmers in the country, close to 70 million farmers are already using smartphones and just need a bit of handholding and assistance for the first few transactions.

Aligned with the government’s vision of Digital India and Bharat Connect that brings the rural landscape on the Internet connectivity map, Ergos aims to empower each farmer and enable them to use Grain Bank mobile app to manage their finance, where they can sell, borrow, and preserve their grains.

Ergos is constantly building the tech capability of the Grain Bank app to execute ~10,000-12,000 transactions initiated by farmers and buyers in one second which is the speed required to service 12-13 million farmers in next three to four years for executing secured transactions worth of Rs 12,000-14,000 crore for one season crop yield on Grain Bank platform and to facilitate worth Rs 4,000-5,000 crore small tickets short term farmer loan on this platform.

To connect to half a million farmersBengaluru-based

Agrotech, Finance, Start ups

The agritech startup works with farmers from across the state, ensuring fair prices and supplying pure, traditional and wholesome farm produce to the world

Dehradun-based agritech startup Valley Culture has raised funds worth Rs 2 crores from TMRW Network. The agritech startup works with farmers from across the state, ensuring fair prices and supplying pure, traditional and wholesome farm produce to the world. Valley Culture works with over 4000 farmers across the state of Uttarakhand of which the majority are women giving hope and a lifeline to more than 600 widows.

Founders Shikha Prakash and Robin Nagar plan to build a complete Farm to fork ecosystem, to help Himalayan farmers get better prices, build market linkages & direct access to customers. Also, they are steadfast and determined to promote a healthy lifestyle by reviving the traditional foods of Uttarakhand. The startup targets Rs 100-crore turnover in the next 18 months.

The agritech startup works with farmers from