A fund for agritech startup, inclusion of drones to boost Indian farming

• The government of India has decided to set up a dedicated fund for agritech startups.
• The finance minister also mentioned that the government intends to pay ₹2.7 lakh crore worth of MSP.
• Like other sectors, the finance ministry has also proposed to further incorporate drones into the agriculture sector.

The government of India has decided to set up a dedicated fund for agritech startups, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said while announcing the union budget for the year 2022-23.

“A fund with blended capital, raised under the co-investment model, will be facilitated through NABARD. This is to finance startups for agriculture & rural enterprise, relevant for farm produce value chain. The activities for these startups will include, inter alia, support for FPOs, machinery for farmers on rental basis at farm level, and technology including IT-based support,” Sitharaman said.

The finance minister also mentioned that the government intends to pay ₹2.7 lakh crore worth of minimum support price (MSP) direct payments to wheat and paddy farmers.

Besides this, the government is also looking to deploy drones for agriculture monitoring, crop assessment, digitisation of land records and spraying of insect pesticides.

The share price of Zen Technologies — a publicly listed company that works on drone detection, classification and tracking — spiked after the Sitharaman made this announcement.

While the company doesn’t have agricultural operations, the spike of its shares was related to the wider scope of drones. “Startups will be promoted to facilitate Drone Shakti through varied applications and for a drone as a service," Sitharaman added.

“The budget has covered multiple avenues for the drone industry to rise, the focus on promoting Agricultural Drones and the NABARD fund to support startups will result in ensuring that the Drone Industry reaches a new milestone. The development of 100 new cargo terminals in the next 3 years will also add to the growth of Drones enabled for cargo deliveries within the terminals and terminals to delivery locations,” Swapnik Jakkampuddi, cofounder of Skye Air Mobility, said.

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