According to government figures, KPs and R-ABIs have trained more than 6,000 agri-startups, and 2,096 startups received technical and financial assistance between FY 2019–20 and 2025–26. Grants-in-aid totalling ₹168.14 crore have so far been released to enable product development, pilots and market entry.
Drone Push and ‘Namo Drone Didi’
The government is aggressively promoting drone use under the Sub-Mission on Agricultural Mechanization (SMAM) and allied programmes. Financial assistance covers up to 100% cost for demonstration drones (capped at ₹10 lakh) by research and extension institutions, and substantial subsidies for FPOs and Cooperative Hiring Centres (CHCs) to own or rent drones for farm services.
Women self-help groups are a focus: the Central Sector ‘Namo Drone Didi’ scheme will deploy 15,000 drones to SHGs with an outlay of ₹1,261 crore for 2023–24 to 2025–26. Lead Fertilizer Companies have already distributed more than 1,000 drones to SHG drone operators, helping women earn by providing drone services locally.
Mechanisation, Training and Testing Infrastructure
SMAM, now nested under RKVY, supports custom hiring centres, hi-tech equipment hubs and awareness campaigns to bring mechanisation to small and marginal farmers. The government has set up four Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institutes in Budni, Hisar, Garladinne and Biswanath Chariali to train farmers, technicians and youth on modern farm equipment and drone operations.
Financial incentives under PM-FME and the Agriculture Infrastructure Fund further enable startups and FPOs to build processing and storage capacity critical for scaling agri-tech solutions beyond pilots.
Digital Agriculture Mission and AgriStack
At the policy core is the Digital Agriculture Mission, approved to create a Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) for agriculture AgriStack comprising geo-referenced village maps, a Crop Sown Registry and a Farmers Registry. The DPI aims to power the Krishi Decision Support System and a national Soil Fertility & Profile Map, enabling reliable, timely crop intelligence for farmers, startups and policymakers.
States and Union Territories are implementing these registries with central technical and financial support, building the foundation for interoperable digital services and private-sector innovation.
Crop Forecasting, Insurance and Remote Sensing
The Mahalanobis National Crop Forecast Centre (MNCFC) strengthens agri-tech use with satellite-based models (FASAL), drought monitoring and yield estimation systems that support crop insurance under PMFBY. MNCFC’s YES-TECH and crop-cutting planning tools help reconcile yield and area estimates and support claims processing critical for boosting farmer trust in digital insurance services.
Sector Reach and Innovation Areas
Supported startups span precision agriculture (sensors, AI, IoT), drone services, farm mechanisation, post-harvest value addition, supply-chain logistics, waste-to-wealth solutions, bio-inputs and climate-smart farming. The RKVY scheme allows each KP to onboard 20–25 startups and each R-ABI 10–12 startups per category annually, creating a steady pipeline of innovation.
These interventions are designed not only to incubate technology but to ensure market viability through piloting with FPOs, CHCs and government procurement platforms.
