INDUSTRY OUTLOOK

1. Growing Importance of Agri-Finance;

India’s agriculture sector employs over40% of the population,but contributes less than20% to GDP.Despite this, access toformal credit remains limited — nearly 30% of small and marginal farmers rely on informal lenders. Thus, modernizing agri-finance infrastructure is crucial to rural development and economic stability.

2. Key Trends and Drivers;

3. Key Stakeholders;

NABARD – Apex refinance and development bank for rural credit.

Banks/NBFCs – Offer Kisan Credit Cards, crop loans, term finance.

Agri Repositories– e.g.,NeRL, CDSL Commodity Repository – digitize collateral.

FinTech/AgriTech Startups – like Samunnati, Jai Kisan, DeHaat – enable micro-lending, credit scoring, and loan disbursement.

4. Policy Push

PMFBY, KCC, Agriculture Infrastructure Fund, and Priority Sector Lending (PSL)guidelines have spurred lending to the sector.

TheeNAM, WDRA, and Digital India initiatives further align the ecosystem for growth.

5. Challenges

6. Outlook

The Indian agri-finance infrastructure is evolving into amore digitized, integrated, and formalized ecosystem.

With increasing adoption of eNWRs, digital credit models, and warehouse reforms, the market is expected to grow at ~10–12% CAGR in the coming years (Source: NABARD, ICAR estimates).

Thenext phasewill focus on scaling digital access to credit, reducing turnaround times, and bridging rural-urban financial divides.