Arya.ag Thrives Amidst Falling Global Crop Prices, Attracts Investors and Maintains Profitability

Arya.ag: Revolutionizing Indian Agriculture with Innovative Solutions

Arya.ag, an Indian agritech company, has been making waves in the industry by offering storage facilities near farms and providing lending services to hundreds of thousands of farmers. Despite the challenges posed by falling global crop prices in a volatile commodities market, Arya.ag has managed to attract investor interest and maintain profitability.

The latest development for Arya.ag comes in the form of an all-equity Series D round from GEF Capital Partners, amounting to a total of $81 million. More than 70% of this funding was allocated as primary capital, with the remainder coming from secondary share sales, as confirmed by the company.

In a world where agricultural commodity prices are on the decline, Arya.ag stands out by mitigating risks associated with extreme weather, input costs, trade disruptions, and policy shifts. The World Bank has cautioned about the challenges faced by agricultural markets, emphasizing the importance of strategies to navigate price fluctuations and inventory losses.

Founded in 2013 by former ICICI Bank executives Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra, and Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya.ag operates on the principle of empowering farmers to have greater control over the sale of their crops. Based in Noida, the startup offers storage facilities in close proximity to farms, enabling farmers to borrow against warehoused grain for immediate financial needs. Additionally, Arya.ag connects farmers with a diverse range of buyers, from agri-corporations to processors and millers, allowing them to avoid selling their produce at low prices immediately after harvest.

One of the key differentiators for Arya.ag is its scale of operations, which sets it apart from traditional lenders and agribusiness platforms. The company claims to aggregate and store approximately $3 billion worth of grain annually, representing about 3% of the national output. Moreover, Arya.ag facilitates around $1.5 billion in loans each year while maintaining a low rate of bad loans (gross non-performing assets) of less than 0.5%, even in the face of declining prices.

Arya.ag follows a prudent lending strategy, where it only lends a portion of the value of stored grain and closely monitors prices to trigger margin calls when necessary. This approach helps the company manage risks effectively and control non-performing assets and defaults, as highlighted by Rao.

In the financial year ending March 2025, Arya.ag reported net revenue of ₹4.5 billion (approximately $50 million). The company’s first-half revenue in the current fiscal year has seen a 30% increase from the previous year, reaching ₹3 billion ($33.3 million). Profit after tax amounted to ₹340 million (around $3.78 million) last year, with a further 39% growth recorded so far this year, according to Rao.

Arya.ag has significantly expanded its reach, now serving between 850,000 and 900,000 farmers across 60% of India’s districts. Through a network of approximately 12,000 agricultural warehouses leased from third parties, the startup generates revenue from farmers for storage services, from banks for facilitating loans against stored grain, and from buyers for enabling crop sales through its platform.

Storage services constitute the largest revenue stream for Arya.ag, accounting for approximately 50–55% of the total revenue, while finance contributes 25–30%, with the remainder coming from commerce, as stated by Rao.

On an annual basis, Arya.ag disburses over ₹110 billion (about $1.2 billion) in loans to farmers through its platform. Of this amount, between ₹25 billion and ₹30 billion (roughly $278 million–$333 million) originates from the company’s balance sheet via its non-banking finance arm, with the remainder sourced for partner banks.

The interest rates on Arya.ag’s loans range from 12.5% to 12.8%, significantly lower than the 24% to 36% typically charged by commission agents but slightly higher than bank lending rates of around 11% to 12%. Rao explained that traditional banks often do not extend loans in the small, local markets near farming areas that Arya.ag serves, where loan sizes are smaller, and borrowers are located far from formal bank branches.

Arya.ag boasts a swift loan approval process, with disbursements completed in under five minutes, largely facilitated through digital channels, as highlighted by Rao.

Technology plays a pivotal role in Arya.ag’s risk management and scalability efforts. The company leverages AI for assessing grain quality in loan decisions, satellite data for monitoring crop stress pre-harvest, and innovative storage solutions such as sensor-enabled bags for prolonged grain storage, even in rural areas without formal warehouses.

With the fresh capital infusion, Arya.ag plans to further expand its technological deployments, including enhancing smart farm centers and deploying additional digital tools closer to farms. Rao also mentioned that part of the investment would be allocated to strengthening the startup’s blockchain-based system for digitally tracking stored grain, ensuring transparency in collateralized crops and trade transactions, alongside continued investments in storage and credit infrastructure.

Buoyed by the recent funding and improved financial performance, Arya.ag is setting its sights on becoming IPO-ready within the next 18 to 20 months, according to Rao.

Looking beyond India, Arya.ag intends to strategically expand through a software-led model, with its technology already making inroads in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa. The startup, which currently employs over 1,200 full-time staff, is poised for further growth and impact in the global agricultural landscape.

Avendus played a key advisory role for Arya.ag in the latest financial round, underlining the company’s commitment to strategic partnerships and sustainable growth.