There are enough and more reasons to spend a day discussing the investible niches in agriculture.
One, accounting for nearly one-fifth of India’s GDP and over 50% of its workforce, this sector enjoys a vast and growing demand in both domestic and overseas markets.
Two, demand for farm and food products is ever-increasing as there is less and less land under cultivation globally.
Three, there are many fundable and viable niches within the ecosystem of agriculture.
Four, the loop of agribusiness and food business that starts from agri inputs such as seeds and fertilizers to the meal on your plate (farm-to-fork) offers a value chain that promises opportunities along the way such as logistics, cold storage, packaging, commodity markets and last-mile retail.
At the VCCircle ICICI Bank Investment Summit 2010: Agri, Food & Emerging Sectors, nearly 12 financial and sectoral experts will deep-dive into the sectoral opportunities that exist in the entire food chain. In the panel titled, Farmgate To Fork: India’s Big Long Food Chain, Deepak Shahdadpuri, MD, Baer Capital Partners; Kevin Eikerman, Head, ADM India; Dev Lall, MD, Bakers Circle; Ajay Mariwala, MD, Vallabhdas Kanji Ltd; Gaurav Mathur, MD, India Equity Partners; Sandeep Sabharwal, Founder, Sohan Lal Commodity Management; and Sanjay Sancheti, Country Head, Olam International will discuss the various constraints and challenges in the journey of farm output from the farmgate to your plate. Some of the questions that they will throw light on based on their experiences: What are the capacity gaps at the farm-fork level: Subsidies, agri inputs, market access and information, intermediaries, cold chain infrastructure and last-mile connect? What are the environmental, regulatory, policy and infrastructure interventions required to attract more private capital into this space? What are the capital-raising options? What are the emerging and winning models in dairy, edible oils, processed foods, ready to eat foods and restaurants? What kind of models attracts funding easily?
In a panel titled, Emerging Trends in Agriculture, Rajesh Srivastava, MD, Rabo Equity Advisors; Anuj Kumbhat, Executive Director, Weather Risk Management Services; Anjani Sinha, MD, National Spot Exchange Ltd; Ashok Motiani, CMD, Freshtrop Fruits Ltd and Dhanraj Bhagat, Partner, Specialist Advisory Services, Grant Thornton will talk about new stories that are playing in India’s farm economy. Will weather advisory, online commodity trading and modernised irrigation techniques play a key role in the new script? How big will sustainable agriculture/organic farming really be? Will innovation, modernization and new technology processes to increase agri output drive future investments?
Get a game-changing visibility into current and futuristic trends in India’s most compelling sector.
