Zania-Editor
In a pivotal advancement for India’s agricultural sector, Union Minister for Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare and Rural Development, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, has unveiled the AgriSURE Scheme in New Delhi.
AgriSURE – Agri Fund for Start-ups & Rural Enterprises is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at transforming the agricultural landscape in India. This innovative fund focuses on high-risk, high-impact ventures driven by technology, intended to stimulate growth and foster innovation within the agricultural and rural start-up ecosystem.
The AgriSURE Fund is a blended capital fund amounting to Rs 750 crore, classified as a SEBI Registered Category II, Alternative Investment Fund (AIF). It comprises contributions from the Government of India (Rs 250 crore), NABARD (Rs 250 crore), and Rs 250 crore being raised from banks, insurance companies, and private investors.
The launch of the AgriSURE fund represents the government’s commitment to boosting investments in the agricultural sector, empowering farmers, and enhancing the rural economy through innovative and affordable solutions.
OBJECTIVES OF THE AgriSURE FUND
The AgriSURE Fund aims to achieve several key objectives:
– Foster an investment-friendly environment for start-ups in agriculture and allied sectors and enhance their capacity to attract investments.
– Accelerate the growth of start-ups within the agriculture ecosystem.
– Increase and sustain capital commitments to sector-specific AIFs, enabling them to provide equity support to Agriculture and Agricultural-tech start-ups that assist farmers, FPOs, FPCs, and Primary Cooperative Societies.
– Raise the average size and number of investments by AIFs in Agriculture and Agricultural-tech start-ups.
– Support young entrepreneurs with innovative, technology-driven ideas willing to take high risks and engage in impactful agricultural activities.
– Provide liquidity to existing Agriculture and Agricultural-tech start-ups struggling to scale due to limited access to various types of financing.
– Enhance forward and backward linkage systems in the rural sector to strengthen the farm produce value chain, support start-ups, and attract new entrepreneurs in agri-business.
– Integrate more players into the farm-related ecosystem to enable FPOs, FPCs, and Primary Cooperative Societies to access advanced farm processes and machinery through Agricultural-tech start-ups.
– Create additional employment opportunities for technically skilled rural and urban youth in agriculture and encourage the younger generation to consider agriculture as a viable business.
– Retain rural youth in agriculture and attract urban youth to establish new start-ups in the rural agricultural sector, fostering mutual benefits for both farmers and entrepreneurs.
– Draw more investment into the agriculture and rural start-up ecosystem by contributing to various Alternative Investment Funds.
TARGET BENEFICIARIES
The AgriSURE Fund aims to support approximately 85 start-ups by the end of its life cycle, with variable investment sizes of up to ₹25 crore under its two schemes. The beneficiaries will include start-ups in agriculture and rural development sectors such as Agricultural -tech, Food Processing, Animal Husbandry, Fisheries, Supply Chain Management, Farm Mechanisation, Biotechnology, Waste Management, Renewable Energy, Agri Value Chain, Primary Cooperative Societies development, support for FPOs, technology at the farm level, and climate change.
The specifics of ticket sizes and the number of investments may vary based on the investment absorption capacity of entrepreneurs, market conditions, and other factors within the ecosystem.
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