Agritech: The future of Indian Market.

Indian agriculture industry provides employment to more than half of the people of the nation. Though this balance is shifting towards the urban values as a result of urbanization due to urbanization more and more opportunities are available and people are indeed taking a lot of interest in the same. Still agriculture holds the primary importance as a major part of the population is based on the sector for their living. India’s agriculture is multifaceted with contributions coming from sections like animal husbandry & horticulture as well, contributing to 60% of agricultural growth rate. Earlier agriculture in India was dependent on the climatic changes and seasonal monsoon in the nation. Nowadays, the world has witnessed major change in the traditional ways of farming. With evaluation of modern equipment and practices, the dependency on the monsoon has somewhat decreased but not eliminated fully like in other nations where the monsoon is seen as additional help in the agricultural process.

India stands at 2nd position in agricultural production after China. Despite this fact, Indian ranked 8th in terms of Agricultural products exports. Though this ranking will change surely as major developments have been done in the sector especially in terms of agricultural growth. In the last 14 years, the production has increased from USD 87 Billion to USD 397 Billion with an annual growth rate of 11%. Government is now investing a major part of the budget to the welfare of the farmers and personnel which are engaged in the agricultural service. Efforts are made by the Govt. to double the average income of farmers by 2022. Indian agriculture sector is has a potential to overtake Indian education system in terms of startups success because of the following reasons:

Active participation of the people

More than half of the population depends on the sector for living and engages in most of the activities related to it actively. Availability of customers is the main ingredient for the success of any startup in any industry. In India more than 50% of the population depends on this sector, and all of them work in coordination with the Govt. prices and regulation established by them. Many startups can work as the bridge between the government and the farmers and can help both sides to work efficiently in the sector.

Support from the Government

Support of the government is also a significant factor in deciding the value and constructive profit that a startup can make out of the sector. The main aim of the government is to be able to evaluate the progress and work in resonance with the farmers in terms of growth in the agriculture sector. For this government wants some helping hand in order to make farmers more advanced with tools and modern agricultural practices. This where startups can play a major role in the process.

The “WHY” factor

Any newly founded company would not survive the market until and unless there is a “WHY” factor behind the inception of it. There should be concrete reasons for a startup to be found and progressed successfully in the given field. Indian agriculture sector provides that “WHY” factor to the aspiring entrepreneurs. Over many years the profit has been increased but with that Indian has also witnessed a drop in land holdings, poor quality of seeds in the market, decrease in groundwater level, and also increase in the demand of the supplies. Absences of the organized market is another major evidence of inefficient handling of the resources. These problems are increasing in number and the government is not able to manage the rapid changes efficiently.

These are some of the concrete reasons for the people having great minds to actively participate in the agriculture industries and provide products and services which will effectively help the farmers and the government to work in resonance. Many Agritech ventures are now investing in the startups in the sector as they are convinced with the fact that the majority of the startups will return a great profit. Using this fact, many startups have emerged in the nation with the aim to make this sector more advanced and work with mutual constructive profit. Some of the ways startups are working in the sector and how they are contributing to the advancement process is given below:

Selling Agricultural Inputs

Contacting directly with the farmers eliminates the corrupt role of middleman who is till now working between the farmers and government. Selling agricultural inputs which are required in farming directly to the farmers should be the first step in the advancement process. In this way the company can understand the requirements of farmers efficiently and can make constructive relationships with them. In return farmers would contact the company officials to get any required material. The established name in the Agritech startups is Agrostar which was established in 2013 with funding of USD 14 Million. The company raised the highest funding for any Agritech startups in India in 2017. Big ventures like Accel Partners and Aavishkaar Venture capital invested in the company in its initial period of operation as a newbie startup.

Providing Agricultural Service

This is the most important area in which new startups are glorifying their name and work by associating their name with the successful crop growth in many parts of india. In this method, a team of experts provides farmers with the required information about crops or any new methods that can be used to increase the growth. Information about different fertilizers and how to manage the fertile land is being informed to the farmers. There are many governmental bodies for this purpose. New startups are giving tough competitions to these government bodies in terms of outputs from the framers. The major startup in this area is DeHaat. The company raised USD 12 Million by giving full stack agricultural service to the farmers. This is a one stop solution platform for the farmers where they can get solutions for almost every problem that they are facing on their fields.

Providing Tech Service

This is the major operation area as many startups have now become a full fledged company because of the requirements of Hardware tools and services which was missing in Indian agriculture sector. Major developments took place at the beginning of the 21st century and since then the development is increasing day by day. One of the most active startups in this field is EM3 Agri. This company provides farmers with required machinery and tools on rent to the farmers at a reasonable rate. Two major investors in the company are Innovation Fund and Aspada Investments. The company raised USD 13.3 Million and more for its working capital. The scope of the service is increasing with the knowledge of the farmers. Many venture capitalists are showing great interest in this area as the development is exponential and also the help from the government is another boosting factor.

The scope of development in Indian Agriculture is very broad because of factors listed above. Many young minds are taking interest in the sector and in the coming years the world will witness the exponential growth in the sector. Many venture capitalists are actively taking part in investing in these newly found companies and they are sure that these companies will make their path to an established company and thus returning with a great profit for the firm.