At current prices, Indian agriculture accounts for one-fifth of GDP and employs roughly 60% of the workforce. According to the Economic Survey for 2020-2021, Indian agriculture has contributed 20% to the GDP for the first time in 17 years. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian farming community has demonstrated incredible perseverance and grit.
Bestowed with the 2nd The largest share of arable land resources in the world, accounting for 20 agro-climatic regions, and all 15 major climates in the world, India is the largest producer of high-income generating farm produce like spices, milk, pulses, tea, cashew. , jute, and the second-largest producer of wheat, rice, fruits, vegetables, sugarcane, cotton, and oilseeds. While these facts give meaning to the figures above, one area that needs to be addressed is the lack of information and high predictability in farming practices, undervaluing the growth potential and the ability to dominate international agri markets.
An Ernst & Young 2020 study pegs the Indian agri-tech market potential at $ 24 billion by 2025, of which only a little over 1 percent has been captured so far. Currently, it is estimated that there are over 1000 agri-tech start-ups in India operating at different levels of agri-value chains.
Gramophone-Agri-tech Start-up:
One such agri-tech start-up is the Indore-based Gramophone. The company was co-founded by Tauseef Khan and Nishant Mahatre, both of whom trace their association back to their IIT Kharagpur-IIM Ahmedabad days. Both Tauseef and Nishant have come up with short yet meaningful stints at agri-tech companies and venture capital funds before the Gramophone. Their past experiences helped them to respond to a constant need in the farming sector by providing highly customized information and tech-driven inputs to Indian farmers to achieve better farm yields.
Gramophone moves with a two-fold vision – one, to keep the farmer at the heart of product development, and two, to demystify complexity around agricultural practices and best practices. As a result, Gramophone has developed a slew of localized product packages to help farmers access best practices, crop advisory, and weather information coupled with the best products to grow their output and income.
Tauseef Khan, Gramophone CEO and Co-Founder, candidly confesses that stepping into the start-up world was not an insurmountable task as he had a strong support system in his parents, friends, and mentors. On the business side of things, the co-founders conducted a thorough market survey in five agriculture-driven states of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh. Following this, both Tauseef and Nishant converged on Indore in Madhya Pradesh as the Gramophone headquarters.
According to Tauseef, Madhya Pradesh made the cut as, geographically, it is the second-largest state, having contributed to the growth of Indian agriculture tremendously in the last decade. Moreover, Madhya Pradesh provided an untapped market and atypical contexts as compared to other competing states. For example, the average land-holding size (ALS) in Madhya Pradesh is higher than others – up to 2 hectares per farmer. This also translated to a far higher rate of early adopters’ services offered by Gramophone, resulting in higher incomes, once its products were tested, repeated repeat orders and word-of-mouth.
Tauseef insightfully testifies that the assurance of a better law and order situation was also another rationale that helped them choose Madhya Pradesh as their start-up hub. Having started as an agronomy-led, agri-input commerce company in 2016, Gramophone has been building on its successes, helping more than 150,000 farmers maximize their incomes. So far, it has serviced more than 1.6 million farmers, out of which 80 percent of the farmers belong to Madhya Pradesh.
Tauseef explains that Gramophone kept its focus on Madhya Pradesh in the early years, before expanding its business to adjoining states of Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, and Maharashtra. Currently, Madhya Pradesh accounts for 75 percent of Gramophone’s revenues.
Speaking positively about the new start-up policy being introduced by the Madhya Pradesh government, Tauseef hopes it will encourage more budding entrepreneurs to take the leap of faith and enter the ‘road less traveled.’ He also hopes that the state government will ensure the provision of a ‘single window system’ to fast track ‘lift-offs’ for start-ups so that they can focus on problem-solving. He confesses that Madhya Pradesh, and especially Indore, is quite a favorable destination for budding entrepreneurs to launch their start-ups.
With respect to launching an agri-tech, Madhya Pradesh makes a better cut for the state government’s commitment to improving agriculture, as well as the fact that MP is one of the largest producers of cash crops and grains in the country, which ensures The farmers are more open to adopting best practices and tech-driven farming.
Apart from the technical and business aspects, Madhya Pradesh provides a great standard of living and quality of life, as it boasts of Bhopal – the cleanest state capital – and Indore, which is the cleanest city of India. Truly, the Government of Madhya Pradesh is committed to promoting and strengthening a start-up culture and ecosystem in the state that will contribute to achieving the dream of Atmanirbhar Bharat in the near future.
First published on: 07 May 2022, 05:02 IST