Agritech Start-ups: Revolutionizing the Agricultural Value Chain in India

Abstract

Agritech startups in India are dominating the agri sphere with innovations in their business model using technology thereby increasing the efficiency and profitability in the agricultural operation. The study has tried to review the status of agritech startups using data from Startup India website and the respective websites of startups. It was also strived to find out the presence of startups in different stages of agricultural value chain. It was found that agritech startups account for 55 per cent of the total agri startups in India. Only 11 per cent of the total agritech startups have so far reached the scaling stage. The average age of agritech startups which are in the scaling stage is found to be 4 years. These startups are trying to solve specific problems of agricultural value chain with close to a quarter into technology-based devices (IoT, sensor, artificial intelligence based) which improves the efficiency of agricultural production and operation. The next big category is e-commerce and marketplace for agricultural produce in the agricultural value chain. Presence of startups can be seen beyond the metro cities and innovative startups evolving from smaller cities too. Karnataka is leading the race in terms of total number of agritech startups which is also having maximum number of startups altogether. The presence of startups in dairy, aquaculture and poultry sector is very minimal, majority being present in the crop and horticulture sector.