Department of Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare is implementing “Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development” programme under Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) from 2018-19, with the objective of promoting innovation and agri-entrepreneurship, by providing financial and technical support for nurturing startups. 5 Knowledge Partners (KPs) and 24 RKVY Agribusiness Incubators (R-ABIs) have been appointed for training & incubation of startups and implementation of this programme.
Under the programme, financial support upto Rs. 5 lakh is provided at the idea/pre seed stage and upto Rs. 25 lakh at the seed stage to entrepreneurs/ startups in agriculture & allied sector to launch their products, services, business platforms, etc in the market and to facilitate them in scaling up.
Start-ups are trained and incubated by the 5 KPs and 24 R-ABIs appointed under the programme. Government of India organizes various national level programmes including agri-startup conclave, agri fair and exhibitions, webinars & workshops to provide a platform for the promotion of agri startups by linking them with various stakeholders.
Financial assistance of Rs. 122.50 crore have been released in installments to a total of 1708 agri startups through various KPs and R-ABIs from 2019-20 to 2023-24 under the “Innovation and Agri-Entrepreneurship Development” programme. The year –wise details of financial support provided to startups is as under:
| Financial Year | Total number of startups supported | Total fund released to startups (in installments) Rs. in crore |
| 2019-20 | 58 | 3.13 |
| 2020-21 | 588 | 27.43 |
| 2021-22 | 277 | 20.34 |
| 2022-23 | 253 | 24.35 |
| 2023-24 | 532 | 47.25 |
| Total | 1708 | 122.50 |
This information was given by the Union Minister of State for Agriculture & Farmers’ Welfare Shri Ramnath Thakur in a written reply in Lok Sabha today.
