Agritech startup Gramophone has partnered with Saraloan and Rupifi to offer credit to agri input retailers with credit limit upto ₹5 lakh. Gramophone said, it has access to 18 lakh farmers and over 6,000 agriculture input retailers.

“There are several fintech players, NBFCs, and banks’ availability in the retail credit market, however, lending to farmers is still seen as a problem. The cost of loan origination and management are major obstacles for lending to the farming ecosystem. Gramophone solves these problems with the network of micro entrepreneurs and a digital infrastructure to manage the last mile operations.” said Tauseef Khan, Co-Founder & CEO, Gramophone, in a statement.

Repayment of loans

Through its alliance with Jai Kisan, Gramophone allows farmers to repay the loan in four months. This is kept in such a fashion that helps farmers collect the cash from their output sales first and then settle their loans. “We are seeing rural-lending as a vehicle to support farmers that will help the economy. The rural space is changing due to digitisation and we would like to provide opportunities and build trust with our farmers. We believe that digital lending will be one of the greatest tools to combat the problem of inefficient capital allocation” Tauseef said.

Gramophone looks to eliminate physical paperwork through online verification and smoother credit checks. Given Gramophone’s full-cycle-association with farmers, risks are mitigated due to the extensive crop management tools and output market linkage on the same platform, the company said.

comment COMMENT NOW