India is showing definite signs of moving on from being a developing country to becoming a middle-income one, and the recent union budget captures this well. We have heard of many budgets in the past where subsidies and SOPs were announced as development instruments. These were suitable for that day and age when large parts of the population were destitute and needed basic support.
Things have changed. The current budget is the first budget to reflect this change truly. This budget is unique in three different ways.
First, it is the first budget of middle-income India. It solidly focuses on easing supply-side bottlenecks and making business easier. Game-changing allocation levels have been made for investments in heavy ultra-modern infrastructure, reducing logistics costs for goods and passenger movement by several percentage points while dramatically improving logistics velocity.
Sectors such as tourism that will instantly exploit this improved infrastructure have been given substantial attention. Massive thrust has been provided to make India manufacture more goods within its borders, further leveraging the world-class infrastructure that is being built to its advantage. Simultaneously, demand-side stimuli have been provided in the form of eased income taxes that will unleash aspirational expenditure of the new, middle-income India.
Secondly, it is a genuinely modern budget for the 21st century. The budget proactively drives India to a green, climate-resilient future. It promotes high-quality public mobility infrastructure. It calls for massive investments in digital public goods. The intended outcome of this budget, and I suspect several budgets that will follow, is to build a truly digital native, regenerative, and sustainable India.
This is reflected in its approach towards the agriculture sector as well. The building of a digital public good similar to UPI in agriculture is far-sighted and will immensely benefit the sector. The push to natural farming is highly progressive, as is the decision to create a vehicle to invest in agritech startups. Rarely have we seen a budget that goes ahead of the thinking of the country’s common people. This budget is one such.
Dealing with scalpel
Thirdly, this budget deals with issues with a scalpel rather than a sword and with precision in some of the announced initiatives, such as distributed storage infrastructure for agriculture. For example, setting up low-cost distributed storage units is an excellent way of helping farmers store their produce more efficiently and sell it at an appropriate time to get a fair price, thereby boosting incomes. Specifically, focussing on providing disease-free seedlings for horticulture, for example, demonstrates the depth of understanding of core issues and the precision with which the government is addressing the same.
It is, therefore, safe to say that the budget paints a positive outlook for the agriculture sector, prioritising inclusive development for farmers across the country. This article underlines the key measures taken by the government to propel India’s growth through agriculture.
Digital public infrastructure for agriculture
It is a laudable move by the government and will enable an open source, open standard, and interoperable public good encompassing farmer-centric solutions. Undoubtedly, this initiative will make farm inputs more accessible for farmers while also boosting market intelligence, providing support to agritech players, and encouraging overall growth of the startup ecosystem in the country.
Agriculture Accelerator fund
Despite being a major contributor to the country’s GDP, the agriculture sector faces many challenges, including low productivity, inadequate infrastructure, and limited access to technology and financing. While agritech startups are already addressing these problems, this fund will further fast-track entrepreneurial activity in this space, encouraging entrepreneurs to devise and deliver more innovative and affordable solutions for farmers to enhance productivity and profitability.
Atmanirbhar Clean Plant Program
Disease infestation has been a dire problem affecting 35 per cent of India’s total crop production. The country is a top producer of many fruits, including bananas, with a global share of 27 per cent. But when it comes to exports, it is around 1 per cent only. The setting up of Clean Plant Centres across India under the Aatmanirbhar Clean Plant Program will offer farmers access to disease-free seeds and clean planting material, thus protecting plants from viruses and increasing crop yield at scale, which will eventually translate into better exports.
Encouraging natural farming
Health awareness has increased among people over the years, leading to the adoption of eco-friendly lifestyles. To encourage this practice, the government has pushed for adopting natural farming among 1 crore farmers by building 10,000 bio-input resource centers. This scheme will help farmers raise crop productivity and encourage them to shift from chemical farming, thus helping India minimize its carbon emissions and steer towards a sustainable tomorrow.
The budget has supported startups, particularly agritech players, providing them with adequate funds and the necessary tools to bring more innovation in agriculture. Overall, a highly progressive and modern budget for new India will transform the country across all its classes and regions.
The author is co-founder and Managing Director, WayCool Foods