Making Sense of Jai Kisan's ??30Mn Raise

Can Jai Kisan (the agri-fintech startup, not the populist slogan that robs Indian farmers of agency) live up to its tall promise to serve the 'un/under-served rural Indian'?

“[Rural] branches are bogged down with their liability products…Where is the time to look at credit?” -?Manju Agarwal, Former DMD, SBI,?in a 2021 panel on Agri-Financing

“…We are not a lender, right. We need to get the Samunnatis, the IDFCs, the Kotaks, etc of the world interested in lending towards this space.” - Arjun Ahluwalia, CEO, Jai Kisan,?in a 2020 panel on Digitization in Agriculture.

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the subscriber-only report edition of the?rebooted?Agribusiness Matters.

Last week,?to set the context for today’s analysis on Jai Kisan, we learned

• Why agri-fintech is coming of age now?
• A Brief Snapshot of India’s Tryst with Agricultural Credit
• Understanding the evolution of Agricultural Credit in India
• Which Indian Farmer Are We Talking About?
• How Agricultural Credit system has worked so far on the ground?

What I hope you will learn today:

• Vignettes from the life of an Agri-Input Trader/Distributor
• How Jai Kisan works?
• Can Jai Kisan fulfill its tall promise to ‘serve the un/under-served rural Indian’?
• What can go wrong?

P.S. I plan to schedule a subscriber-only call next week where you can ask me anything about my?Jai Kisan?analysis. All of which to say: Now is a good time to become a subscriber of Agribusiness Matters:)

P.P.S. Although you can study this report separately, you might appreciate it better if you come here after reading last week’s?report?on the evolution of agricultural credit in India.

P.P.P.S. I deeply thank?Emmanuel Murray?for critiquing a draft version of my analysis and sharing many valuable insights from his encyclopedic knowledge of the ground realities and evolution of agricultural credit in India.

P.P.P.P.S. I had made an errata in my last week’s analysis?on the evolution of agricultural credit.?I had falsely mentioned that NABARD was formed on 05th November 1982. Mea Culpa. The actual date is 12th July 1982.

P.P.P.P.P.S: Today marks the fortieth foundation day of?NABARD.?Good day to publish this piece on the future of agricultural credit, I guess:)

https://agribusinessmatters.substack.com/p/making-sense-of-jai-kisans-30mn-raise

This is a subscriber-only post. I hope to see some of you join the Agribusiness Matters Community.

Cheers,

Venky