In a grant agreement signing ceremony, Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services (ARIAS) society signed an agreement under Xamahar Agrifin Challenge fund with eight agri-tech and finance companies across India for brining in innovative and need based service offerings for farmers and agricultural practitioners from the state.
ARIAS is implementing the Assam Agri Fin Xamahar (“Xamahar”) Challenge Agriculture Fund or a competitive funding mechanism for supporting innovative approaches, especially by the private sector, to deliver financial services at scale for farmers in key agriculture value chains in Assam.
The project is funded by the World Bank and is being implemented under the Assam Agribusiness and Rural Transformation Project (APART).
The Xamahar Challenge Fund, through the rigorous process of selection finalised eight financial institutions or sub projects under the project. These subprojects will work in one or more of the 23 priority districts of APART directly benefitting 1,25,000 producers over the fund life including 30 percent women beneficiaries.
The State Project Director, ARIAS Society, Mrs Roshni Aparanji Korati, IAS, added that the Xamahar Challenge Fund expect the private players to contribute towards improving the value chain financing 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
It is expected that the sub-projects will scale up the innovations commercially as a part of their business model, leading to improved access to financial services in agriculture for underserved rural segment through geographic, customer and product and service diversification.
