NABARD announces a ₹750 crore ‘Agri SURE’ fund for startups and rural enterprises

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) held a prelaunch stakeholder meeting in Mumbai to announce the ‘Agri-SURE’ fund, an Agri Fund for startups and rural enterprises. The fund is announced by NABVENTURES, a subsidiary of NABARD with an initial corpus of ₹750 crores with 250 crores each from NABARD and the Ministry of Agriculture, and 250 crores from other institutions. This initiative aims to promote investment in innovative, technology-driven, high-risk, and high-impact activities in agriculture and allied areas.

Managed by NABVENTURES, the fund is structured to support approximately 85 agri startups with investment sizes of up to ₹25 crore each by the end of its term. The fund will provide support through investments in sector-specific, sector-agnostic, and debt Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs), as well as direct equity support to startups. Agri-SURE’s focus areas include promoting innovative, technology-driven initiatives in agriculture, enhancing the farm produce value chain, creating new rural ecosystem linkages and infrastructure, generating employment, and supporting farmer producer organisations (FPOs). Additionally, the fund aims to encourage entrepreneurship through IT-based solutions and machinery rental services for farmers, driving sustainable growth and development in the agricultural sector.

Speaking about the necessity to bring in innovation to bridge the credit gap and enhance the existing rural ecosystem, AK Sahu, Joint Secretary, Department of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Government of India said, “The broader objective of this initiative is to address the flailing issues for agricultural and rural sectors. We need innovation and technology to ensure the last-mile delivery of resources. Most of our farmers hold small pieces of land, in this ecosystem we need to focus on enhancing productivity, this is where technology can play a crucial role. We need to foster an ecosystem for the systematic mechanisation to achieve our objectives. Agri-SURE is a big leap in that direction. With the help of this fund, we aim to support startups to provide us with innovative and sustainable solutions.”

While speaking on the announcement of Agri SURE, Shaji KV, Chairman of NABARD said, “Digitalisation of agriculture is the call of the hour to enhance the agri value chain as the next wave of growth will come from innovation. Fintech innovation in agriculture is one of the important aspects for last-mile connectivity with minimum expenses. Farmers are the foundation of the agri value chain and they need to be handled very closely and provided with solutions. Credit alone will not solve the problem in the agriculture sector. The next level of growth will come from innovations that need to be co-partnered by public and private sector institutions. With this fund, we aim to support early-stage innovators and help farmers with viable, sustainable and durable technological solutions.”