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Press Release

Innovation by agri start-ups essential to overcome global agriculture challenges: Suresh Prabhu

Nov 16, 2018


    Number of Start-ups projected to increase to over 11,500 with 2.5-3 lakh new jobs by 2020: FICCI-PwC Report 

 

NEW DELHI, 16 November 2018: Mr Suresh Prabhu, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Government of India today said that innovations and new ideas will be essential to overcome the challenges arising in the agriculture sector globally.

 

Speaking at the 'International Conference & Awards for Innovations by Agri Startups' organised by FICCI, Mr Prabhu said that to promote new innovations and ideas, start-up companies in agriculture sector should be encouraged. "We have to produce more but there is a threat to existing products and this is going to be an extremely important issue. Agri innovation is the most important innovation the world would need in the field of agriculture at various levels and in different forms", he emphasised.

 

He said start-ups could use technology and bring innovations in areas such as making land and soil more fertile; producing agriculture from waste water; minimal use of fertilisers and pesticides and better productivity.

 

Mr. Prabhu also released the FICCI-PwC Knowledge Report on 'Agri-Start-ups: Innovations for boosting the Future of Agriculture in India' and also gave away the  'Business Excellence Awards for Innovations by Agri Start-ups'.

 

Mr Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India, highlighted the strong relationship between India and France especially in the agriculture sector. He said that France has already started using hi-end technologies like drones, artificial intelligence, big data etc. to ensure increase the productivity and invited Indian companies to invest in France. 

 

Mr T R Kesavan, Chairman, FICCI National Agriculture Committee & President and COO, TAFE Ltd. said that areas such as farm to the farm head; farm at storages and storage to markets were crucial areas where agri start-ups can use innovations. It was imperative for start-ups to adopt sustainable business models to hep the farm sector.

 

Mr Pravesh Sharma, Adviser- FICCI Agriculture Division and CEO Kamatan Farm Tech Pvt. Ltd. stressed the need for creating an ecosystem for the sustainability of start-ups and emphasised the need for using disruptive technologies in the agriculture sector.

 

 

FICCI Business Excellence Awards for Agri Startups 2018:

Category                                                                                             Award

 

Innovation in the Field of Agriculture                     -    Sickle Innovations Pvt. Ltd

-          Miklens Bio Pvt. Ltd.

-          Swasti Agro and Bioproducts Pvt. Ltd.

 

Impactful Agri Startup                                              - Gramshree Development Services Pvt. Ltd.

 

Inspirational Agri Startup                                         - Y-Cook India Pvt. Ltd.

 

 

FICCI-PwC Report: Agri-Startups: Innovations for boosting the future of Agriculture in India

 

The following are the highlights of the report: 

  • India houses a total of 366 agri based start-ups, of which more 50% came into existence in 2015 and 2016
  • Combined revenue of all agritech start-ups in India is estimated to be less than USD 100 million whereas global market is worth USD 350 billion
  •  By 2020, the number of startups in India projected to increase to over 11,500 with job creation reaching 2.5-3 lakh by 2020
  • Geographically, Karnataka and Maharashtra together account for almost 50% of total agri startups opened in last 5 years 
  • New models such as the FAAS, can lead to more sustainable profitability 
  • Need for government to help set-up Agritech focused incubators and grants
  • To make agri-startups successful, it is crucial to enable seamless hybridisation of relevant technology by building a 'new age distribution model'

The report notes that agri-startups need to customize suitably for wading into market that has scant technology adoption rate (due to limited budgets and inconvenience with its usage) and re-orient their methods of selling, which essentially will be different from urban India and start-ups operating there.


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