IIM Kashipur FIED sanctions Rs 1.6 crore funding to 10 agriculture focused start-ups

NEW DELHI: Around 10 higher educational institutes have agreed to form India’s first ‘HEI-led Agri-Consortium’, a move initiated by the Indian Institute of Management Kashipur (IIM Kashipur).

Under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) Remunerative Approaches for Agriculture and Allied sector Rejuvenation (Raftaar) scheme, supported by the agriculture ministry through FIED, IIM Kashipur, has provided funding of Rs 1 crore and 60 lakh rupees to 10 startup companies.

These start-up firms operate in the fields of drone technology, agri-supply chain, food processing, hydroponics, waste to wealth, and agri-biotechnology industries, the institute said.

An in-principle framework in this regard was adopted by participating institutions during the ‘Agri-Entrepreneurship in South Asia' Consortium-2023 organized by the Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development (FIED), an incubation center of IIM Kashipur. The consortium was organised in collaboration with the ministry of agriculture and farmers welfare.

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India's first HEI-led Agri-consortium

The institutes that agreed to collaborate in the Agri Consortium, include IGKV-Raipur; CCS Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar; Acharya N G Ranga Agricultural University; IVRI Bareilly, Pusa Krishi, New Delhi; GB Pant University; VCSJ Uttarakhand University of Forestry and Horticulture, Bharsar Uttarakhand; CCS NIAM Jaipur; and IIM Kashipur.

“The two-day Agri Consortium 2023 aimed to provide a common platform for academicians, researchers, students, and industry professionals to interact and deliberate on the latest trends and advancements in technology, research, funding avenues, and industry requirements in the agriculture industry,” the IIM said.

The agreement in principle with the institutes consists of three steps. In the first step, institutes will share the databases among the consortium members. Dissemination of incubation or start-up support programmes and networking and sharing best practices on the platform are the second and third steps.

IIM Kashipur director Kulbhushan Balooni said: “This Agri Consortium will serve as a platform for sharing information on agri-startups supported by member higher education institutions from different parts of the country. This opens the avenues of collaboration between startups from different geographies, helping each other take their innovative solutions to a large number of farmers."