In Indian agriculture, agri FinTech is emerging as a transformative force, reshaping the way farmers and value-chain stakeholders access finance, manage risk, and scale operations. With increasing digitization, the entry of digital agri loans, and the rise of AI in agri finance, the sector is on the cusp of a new era: Agri-fintech 2.0. At Agriwise Finserv, our commitment to enabling this change through tailored agriwise loans and embedded finance solutions is more than a business priority—it is a strategic imperative for India’s food security and inclusive growth.
The urgency: A credit gap in India’s agriculture
India’s agriculture sector is the backbone of the economy, yet access to institutional credit remains limited. Only around 30% of farmers are reported to access formal financial services, leaving a significant 70% underserved. Meanwhile, credit flow from mainstream institutions, referred to as Ground-Level Credit (GLC), has increased, rising from ₹8.45 lakh crore in FY15 to ₹25.49 lakh crore in FY24. These figures illustrate the gap that agri fintech in India is designed to close.
Traditional lenders face multiple barriers, including a lack of detailed farm-level data, informal supply chains, high transaction costs, and land-title challenges. But as digital adoption increases, agri lending platforms in 2025 are turning these challenges into opportunities.
What does agri fintech 2.0 look like?
The shift to agri fintech 2.0 is characterised by deeper digital integration across the agri value-chain:
- Digitized credit underwriting: Platforms are now utilising remote sensing, geo-tagging of farmland, crop history, and supply-chain data to build borrower profiles and extend digital agri loans more efficiently.
- AI in agri finance: AI-powered scoring engines enable faster loan approvals by automating income estimation, document verification, and risk profiling for assessing the loan proposals.
- Embedded finance in value chain: Loans and working capital are no longer standalone but embedded into procurement, warehousing and trade flows—ensuring that agri lending platforms 2025 can offer tailored, context-aware financing.
- Digital public infrastructure (DPI) & data stack: Schemes such as the Digital Agriculture Mission support farm registries, crop-sown registries, and digital mapping, forming the backbone for innovative credit systems.
Impact on the agri value-chain
The benefits of this transformation ripple across the agri value-chain:
- Improved reach and inclusion: With digital onboarding and AI-driven assessment, small and marginal farmers gain access to formal credit instruments, where they were previously locked into high-cost informal finance.
- Lower transaction cost, better risk management: Through data-driven underwriting, platforms can lower default risk and reduce the cost of service, making smaller ticket loans viable.
- Faster credit cycles tied to crops: Instead of waiting for monsoon or harvest, farmers can access working capital or input-financing aligned with crop stages, improving productivity and timely input usage.
- Market linkages and value realisation: When finance is tied to transactions (procurement, warehousing, sale), the farmer’s income and cash-flow improve, supported by technologies embedded in agri fintech models.
- For agribusinesses and downstream players: Better financial access means smoother procurement, reduced risk of delayed payments, and stronger supply-chain reliability.
Role of Agriwise Finserv in this ecosystem
At Agriwise, we understand the nuanced requirements of agri-business—whether in procurement, warehousing, export trade or input supply. Our Agriwise loans are built on three pillars:
- Tailored underwriting: Leveraging alternative data (farm history, warehouse receipts, geospatial insights) to deliver credit even for non-traditional borrowers.
- Embedded finance: Financing solutions integrated with supply-chain partners, enabling our clients and their farmer-vendors to transact seamlessly.
- Technology-enablement: Use of digital platforms to minimise paperwork, speed disbursement, and monitor utilisation for making finances work in real time for farming cycles.
- Tech-based monitoring tools are being integrated to predict potential delinquencies, assess commodity price volatility, and trigger early warning alerts to safeguard portfolio quality.
Outlook & key trends for 2025 and beyond
The outlook for agri fintech in India is optimistic and rapidly evolving:
- The agritech-fintech ecosystem is expected to witness strong growth, underpinned by increasing smartphone and internet penetration in rural India.
- With formal agricultural credit projected to exceed ₹31.5 lakh crore by FY26, the space for digital agri loans and tech-enabled credit is growing significantly.
- Adoption of AI, remote-sensing and blockchain in supply-chain finance will drive new models of agri lending platforms 2025, where financing flows are dynamically priced, risk-adjusted and tightly integrated into farm ecosystems.
- The convergence of agri-fintech with climate-resilient agriculture, ESG-driven capital flows and green finance will open additional channels for farmers and agribusinesses to access credit and insurance.
Conclusion
The era of Agri-Fintech 2.0 is not a distant vision—it is unfolding now. For India’s agrarian economy, the opportunity to democratise access to finance, reduce dependence on high-cost informal credit, and unlock the full potential of the agri value-chain is immense. Through technologies like AI in agri finance, digital agri loans and embedded finance models, agri fintech is redefining how money flows in agriculture.
At Agriwise, our Agriwise loans serve as a bridge linking farmers, agribusinesses and financial institutions in a smarter, faster and more equitable ecosystem. As we move into 2025 and beyond, the promise is clear: inclusive credit, resilient value chains and sustainable growth, enabled by agri fintech in India. Investing in this future today means more than financing—it means building prosperity, securing livelihoods and transforming agriculture for generations to come.
