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HomePosts Tagged "MD and CEO"
Agribusiness, Environment, Finance, India, Start ups, Sustainability, Sustainable Energy

The 14 onboarded cohort startups are solving critical sustainability issues like reducing post-harvest losses, creating value from agricultural waste, and mitigating CO2 emissions.

 SBI Foundation and Villgro recently announced the launch of their ‘Innovators for Bharat’ portfolio featuring 14 innovative agri-tech startups. The launch event, held at Bangalore International Centre, was graced by senior representatives from SBI Foundation, Villgro and NABKISAN. It also witnessed enthusiastic participation from several distinguished industry stakeholders including investors, financing partners, channel partners, CSR executives, among others.

The collaborative design of the program involves funding support from SBIF, which will also provide a network of banking and financial institutions for mentorship, as well as partnerships with civil service organizations for field trials and pilots. Villgro will play a crucial role by offering mentorship, technical assistance, and market linkages. Together, this financial and technical support aims to help startups scale their solutions, making them more accessible to end users and creating lasting social and environmental impact.

Innovators for Bharat is a flagship initiative by SBI Foundation to accelerate social innovation in India to find indigenous, impactful, and cutting-edge solutions to the most pressing problems in our country. Under this initiative, SBIF selects and supports high impact incubators providing incubation & acceleration support to start ups in key focus areas including Climate Change, Agriculture and allied sectors, Fintech, Deep Science, Health-tech, and Tech4Good. In partnership with Villgro, this program intends to empower social entrepreneurs to drive the transformation of Indian Agriculture towards profitability, nutrition, climate resilience and sustainability.

Delivering the keynote address at the event, Sanjay Prakash, MD and CEO, SBI Foundation said, “SBI foundation’s vision is to support early and growth-stage start-ups that tackle the challenges associated with agriculture and the impacts of climate change. We aim to foster the development of tech solutions from these start-ups, ultimately improving the income of smallholder farmers and making their businesses more profitable and sustainable. Together, we can drive meaningful change in the agricultural sector and contribute to a more resilient future”.

Maithili Rege, Associate Lead, Agriculture & Climate Action, Villgro said, “Through this program, we aim to coach agri-tech startups, help embed their solutions in the market and provide access to innovative financing to supplement what they currently lack from the VC ecosystem. With the program’s initial funding of Rs 3.25 crore, an almost equal amount of catalytic capital is being unlocked through our NBFC partner, NABKISAN, benefiting startups with a total of Rs 6 crore”.

The 14 startups supported by Innovators for Bharat were felicitated at the event, including: Bharat Rohan, RAAV Techlabs, Navork Innovations, Marut Drones, GreyMatter (Upaz), Carbon Masters, Raheja Solar, Ekosight, Pasidi Panta, Agrosperity (Kivi), Krimanshi, RuKart, GreenSupply and E-Feed.

These startups focus on issues such as reducing post-harvest losses, creating value from agricultural waste, and mitigating CO2 emissions. Over the next two years, the program aims to positively impact the lives of 10,000 individuals, promote sustainable practices on 60,000 acres of land, and prevent 15,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions.

The 14 onboarded cohort startups are solving

AgroPolicy, Opinions, Supply Chain, Warehousing

 By Sanjay Gupta, MD and CEO, National Commodities Management Service Limited (NCML)

In light of the recent announcement by Union Minister Anurag Thakur about introducing the ‘world’s largest food grain storage plan’ with warehouses in every block across the country under cooperative societies, it becomes essential to assess and emphasise the role of warehousing reforms for agricultural growth.

According to the annual report published by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperation, the agriculture and allied sector engages 54.6 per cent of the total workforce (Census 2011) and contributes 18.6 per cent to India’s gross value added (GVA) at current prices during 2021-22.

The production trend in India also indicates positive growth with foodgrain production estimated at 315.72 million tonnes, an increase of 4.98 million tonnes compared to 2020-21.

Pulses production during 2021-22 reached a record 27.69 million tonnes, exceeding the last five years’ average, by 3.87 million tonnes, and oilseeds production hit a record 37.70 million tonnes, up by 1.75 million tonnes from 2020-21.

While the upward trend in production is promising for an agrarian nation, it also poses the challenge of having sufficient infrastructure to support such growth. Achieving self-sufficiency requires an ample supply of well-equipped warehouses to handle the increased production.

Studies by Chaturvedi and Raj (2015) reveal that India experiences post-harvest losses of foodgrains as high as 12 to 16 million tonnes annually, amounting to Rs 50,000 crore per year (Singh, 2010).

This highlights the significance of warehousing in preventing losses and ensuring efficient storage and distribution of agricultural produce. The importance of warehousing was recognised as early as 1928 in India, when the Royal Commission on Agriculture mentioned it in its report. All India Rural Credit Survey, in 1954, recommended the creation of storage facilities near production areas to minimise post-harvest losses. However, even after a century, the state of warehousing in India remains far from desired.

As seen in the adjoining table, a major portion of the organised warehousing capacity in the country is still managed by the government through Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) such as the Food Corporation of India (FCI), Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and State Warehousing Corporations (SWCs), State Marketing Federations, State Civil Supplies Corporations, and others.

The current situation not only calls for the creation of appropriate infrastructure but also significant reforms in warehousing. Warehousing reforms are of paramount importance in driving agricultural growth and ensuring the sustainable development of the agricultural sector.

Storage and Preservation

Proper storage is crucial for many agricultural commodities, including perishable goods, as they have a limited shelf life. Warehousing reforms offer modern storage techniques, temperature control systems, and inventory management practices that optimise the preservation of agricultural produce. These reforms enable farmers to store their produce for extended periods, reducing post-harvest losses including spoilage, minimising wastage, and maintaining the quality of goods. Reliable storage facilities enhance farmers’ confidence, allowing them to produce more without fear of immediate market saturation and ensuring a steady supply of goods to the market.

Market Stability

Warehousing reforms play a pivotal role in achieving market stability, a key requirement for sustained agricultural growth. In times of excess production, when there is a surplus of agricultural commodities, warehouses can be used to store the surplus and release  it gradually into the market as demand increases. By preventing sudden price crashes, these reforms shield farmers from significant losses and stabilise market prices. Stable prices incentivise farmers to invest in production, as they are assured of fair returns, while consumers benefit from consistent pricing and improved food security.

 Access to Finance

Warehousing reforms create opportunities for farmers to access financial resources vital for agricultural growth. Warehouses meeting prescribed standards can be used as collateral for obtaining loans from banks and financial institutions. Farmers can pledge their stored produce, ensuring a reliable and tangible asset that facilitates credit access at favourable interest rates. By leveraging their stored goods, farmers can manage their cash flow efficiently, invest in agricultural inputs, and meet various financial obligations. The committee formed under the chairmanship of Mr Dinesh Rai for Strengthening Negotiable Warehouse Receipts emphasised the role of Electronic Negotiable Warehouse Receipts (eNWRs) as an instrument to access finance. These eNWRsoffer advantages over paper warehouse receipts, reducing manual handling, eliminating transportation of paper receipts, minimising chances of forgery, and providing quick access to information.

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

 By Sanjay Gupta, MD and CEO, National

Agro chems – Fertilizers, Agrotech, India, Opinions

 By Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, MD and CEO, IGX (Indian Gas Exchange)

Gas Exchanges provide an alternate avenue for buyers from the fertiliser sector and sellers to meet their natural gas demand and facilitate transparent price discovery. This inherent quality of Gas Exchanges has led to consistently lower price discovery as gas accounts for 70-80 per cent of the cost of fertiliser production.

Out of India’s annual natural gas consumption of ~156 MMSCMD (Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day), nearly 52 MMSCMD is consumed by its fertiliser (urea) industry. Limited domestic gas production from nominated fields, coupled with the restrained allocation of domestic gas to the sector, has led the fertiliser industry to meet almost 80 per cent of its gas requirement through imported LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas). As per the allocation policy, fertiliser consumers are accorded priority after City Gas Distribution entities. Hence, incremental consumption of gas by the fertiliser sector is satiated from Re-gasified Natural Gas (R-LNG).

However, just about 60-70 per cent of such R-LNG procurement by the fertiliser industry is through long-term/mid-term purchase agreements, and the remainder volumes are sourced through Empowered Pool Management Committed (EPMC) on a spot basis. Domestic gas is pooled with R-LNG to provide natural gas at a uniform delivered price to all the fertiliser plants connected to the Gas Grid.

Bearing the brunt of rising international gas prices

The increasing use of imported gas by the fertiliser sector while the international gas prices are at a record-high, is a cause for worry. Gas accounts for 70-80 per cent of the cost of production, depending on feedstock prices and the energy efficiency of the fertiliser plant. Alternate avenues for procurement, such as a technology-enabled marketplace providing flexibility, efficiency and competitive price discovery, may help in lowering the expenditure of the fertiliser industry.

Subsidies provided by the Government of India cover 100 per cent of the gas procurement costs for urea production. The difference between the delivered cost of urea at the farm gate and net market realisation by the urea units is given as a subsidy to the urea manufacturer/ importer. The present subsidy outgo is around Rs 2,400 per bag (as the market price is about Rs 2,700 per bag). Further, subsidy rates of P&K fertilisers are notified under the Nutrient Based Subsidy scheme.

Considering the huge increase in the prices of fertilisers in the global market, the government has doubled the fertiliser subsidy for this Rabi season. The total fertiliser subsidy outgo for FY 2022-23 would be about Rs 2.25 lakh crore, compared to Rs 1.65 lakh crore last year. These costs have been primarily absorbed by the government to ensure food security as well as safeguard the farmers in our country.

A considerable portion of R-LNG is being sourced by fertiliser units on a spot basis (~30 per cent of total R-LNG procurement) which currently must be routed for an entire quarter through a Pool Operator (GAIL India Ltd) who then proceeds to carry out a plant-wise auction for the procurement of the spot R-LNG volumes on a delivered basis. Due to very high prices being discovered in the quarterly auctions with the entire off-take being on a reasonable endeavour (RE) basis, the pool operator has recently commenced monthly auctions with 40 per cent guaranteed off-take for each plant.

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

 By Rajesh Kumar Mediratta, MD and CEO,