Guwahati: Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services (ARIAS) society and eight agri-tech and finance companies from across India signed a grant agreement as part of a ceremony to bring in innovative and need-based service offerings for farmers and agricultural practitioners in the state. The agreement was made possible by the Xamahar Agrifin Challenge fund.
The Assam Agri Fin Xamahar (“Xamahar”) Challenge Agriculture Fund, or a competitive funding mechanism, is being implemented by ARIAS to support creative approaches, particularly those taken by the private sector, to provide financial services to farmers in important agriculture value chains in Assam.
The World Bank is providing funding for the initiative, which is being carried out as part of the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART).
The Xamahar Challenge Fund selected eight financial institutions or subprojects for the project through a thorough evaluation process. Over the course of the fund’s existence, these subprojects will operate in one or more of APART’s 23 priority regions, directly assisting 1, 25,000 producers, including 30% of women beneficiaries.
The State Project Director, ARIAS Society, Mrs Roshni Aparanji Korati, IAS, noted that the Xamahar Challenge Fund anticipates private actors would contribute to enhancing value chain finance in the state.
The eight sub-projects selected under the XAMAHAR Challenge fund are:
1. ESAF Small Finance Bank Limited
2. Rang De P2P Financial Services Private Limited
3. GoGreen Warehouses Private Limited
4. National Insurance VIMO SEWA Cooperative Ltd
5. Green Agrevolution Private Limited
6. FIA Technology Services Private Ltd
7. Manipal Business Solutions Private Limited
8. Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services Private Limited
Through regional, client, product, and service diversification, it is anticipated that the sub-projects will commercialise the innovations at a larger scale as part of their business models, improving access to financial services in agriculture for the underserved rural segment.