India's agricultural sector, employing nearly 45 percent of the population, faces significant challenges like low productivity, significant post-harvest losses, and limited global market access. However, a flourishing agri-startup ecosystem has arose over the last decade, leveraging technology and new business models to address these concerns. The study reveals these startups, especially those accompanying to Global Value Chains (GVCs) in areas such as logistics, organic produce, and food processing, are making a substantial impact. They're enhancing farmer incomes by up to 34 per cent and crafting merely 100,000 jobs, while also promoting traceability and sustainability. States like Maharashtra, Telangana, and Andhra Pradesh are prominent in GVC participation, due to better infrastructure and supportive policies. Despite these successes, challenges including high certification costs, fragmented landholdings, ambiguous export policies and weak digital infrastructure. However, opportunities abound with the growing global demand for organic and ethnic foods, the rise of digital traceability, and the potential for Farmer-Producer Organization (FPO) aggregation, along with supportive trade policies. This economic analysis emphasizes crucial role of start-ups in modernizing Indian agriculture and integrating it into global markets, offering valuable insights for policymakers, investors, and agripreneurs.
