Arya.ag, an Indian agritech company that provides storage facilities near farms and lending services to farmers, has attracted investor interest and maintained profitability despite falling global crop prices in a volatile commodities market.
In its latest Series D funding round, Arya.ag secured $81 million in all-equity investment from GEF Capital Partners, with over 70% being primary capital and the remainder from secondary share sales.
Agricultural commodity prices are on the decline globally, posing risks from various factors like extreme weather, input costs, trade disruptions, and policy shifts in biofuel. Arya.ag has managed to navigate these challenges by avoiding direct commodity speculation and implementing a model that helps cushion the impact of price fluctuations.
Founded in 2013 by former ICICI Bank executives Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra, and Chattanathan Devarajan, Arya.ag focuses on empowering farmers by giving them more control over the sale of their crops. The company offers storage facilities near farms, allows farmers to borrow against their stored grain for immediate cash needs, and connects them with a wide range of buyers, thus enabling them to avoid selling at low prices post-harvest.
Arya.ag operates at a significant scale, storing around $3 billion worth of grain annually and facilitating approximately $1.5 billion in loans while maintaining a low rate of bad loans (gross non-performing assets) below 0.5%.
The company’s lending strategy involves providing loans only against a portion of the stored grain value, closely monitoring prices, and issuing margin calls when necessary to prevent losses. This approach has helped Arya.ag control its NPAs and defaults effectively.
In the fiscal year ending March 2025, Arya.ag reported net revenue of ₹4.5 billion (approximately $50 million), with a 30% increase in first-half revenue in the current financial year. Profit after tax was ₹340 million (about $3.78 million) last year, with a further 39% increase in the current year.
Arya.ag currently serves between 850,000 and 900,000 farmers across 60% of India’s districts through a network of 12,000 agricultural warehouses leased from third parties. The company generates revenue from storage, finance, and commerce activities, with storage contributing about 50–55% of total revenue.
The company disburses over ₹110 billion (about $1.2 billion) in loans annually to farmers, with a significant portion coming from its balance sheet via its non-banking finance arm. Arya.ag’s loans carry interest rates of 12.5% to 12.8%, lower than those charged by commission agents but slightly higher than bank rates.
Arya.ag leverages technology, including AI for grain quality assessment, satellite data for crop monitoring, and sensor-enabled storage solutions to manage risk and scale efficiently. The company plans to use the recent funding to further expand its tech deployments, enhance its blockchain-based system for tracking stored grain, and prepare for a potential IPO in the next 18 to 20 months.
With aspirations to expand beyond India, Arya.ag aims to selectively enter new markets in Southeast Asia and Africa through a software-led model. The company, with over 1,200 full-time employees, received financial advisory from Avendus for its latest funding round.
