GOVT LOOKS FOR STARTUPS TO COME UP WITH AGRI SOLUTIONS

NEW DELHI: Could startups solve complex issues in India’s agriculture sector, which supports 49% of the workforce? The agriculture ministry thinks so and is hunting for “commercially viable” proposals in 12 pre-identified areas.

The Narendra Modi government’s Startup India scheme, which has a ₹10,000 crore war chest managed by the Small Industries Development Bank of India (Sidbi), is seeking to incubate farm-solution startups through a contest called Agriculture Grand Challenge.

“I urge young entrepreneurs to participate in our newly launched Agriculture Grand Challenge and join forces to make agrarian sector technologically sound and commercially viable,” farm minister Radha Mohan Singh said. The idea is to enable entrepreneurship and innovation, he said.

A handful of startups for the rural economy are already a part of the growing ecosystem. India has more than 19,000 startups, led by consumer Internet and financial services apps, according to the Economic Survey 2015-16.

From 220 in 2014, the number of startups funded in the first 10 months of 2017 stood at 482, according to data from Tracxn.

As of December 2015, eight Indian startups belonged to the so-called Unicorn category, a club of ventures valued at $1 billion or more. Yet, fewer than 10% of these cater to the farm or social sector, according to Tracxn.

A government document, which HT has reviewed, states that private-sector startups could offer viable interventions in an array of areas, notably linking farmers to markets and offering extension services.