Arya.ag eyes to double profit and increase revenue by 70 percent to Rs 500 crore in FY24

MUMBAI: Agri-tech platform Arya.ag is expecting to more than double its profit and grow the topline by around 70 per cent to Rs 500 crore this fiscal as it focuses more on sales along with expansion of its customer base. Arya.ag claims to be the largest and the only profitable agri-tech platform focused on foodgrain storage and sale.
The Noida-based startup founded in 2013 by Prasanna Rao, Anand Chandra and Sathyanathan Devarajan and backed by funds like Lightrock, Accion Quona Capital, Asia Impact Fund and Omnivore Partners, has a revenue of Rs 298 crore, from which it earned Rs 16 crore of net income.
These funds collectively own 60 per cent of the company with a combined investment of USD 65 million. The company did not offer a break-up of either their individual holding or their investment.
It also has debt investors like Rabo Bank, HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, from whom it has borrowed Rs 980 crore so far.
"This year we see the numbers hitting Rs 500 crore in revenue and the net profit more than doubling to Rs 35 crore," Prasanna Rao told PTI.
Rao's optimism comes from growing e-commerce/sale of grains through the platform and the fee for its services to farmers.
Currently, most of its revenue come from storage/warehouse fee. But Rao expects the fee from selling grain on its platform should be a bigger revenue model going forward. Commission on sales stood at Rs 40 crore in FY23 and he expects this to cross Rs 100 crore this fiscal.
He expects the value of grain sold on its platform to double from Rs 3,000 crore in FY23 to at last Rs 6,000 crore this fiscal. Already during the first five months of the current fiscal, sale value crossed Rs 2,000 crore, Rao said.
Last year, the platform's main business of storage had clocked Rs 20,000 crore in aggregate value which he expects to touch Rs 27,000-28,000 crore this fiscal.
Arya serves over 660 FPOs (farmer producer organizations) which have more than 7 lakh individuals, farmers as members from across 21 states and 450 districts. The number of farmers has already jumped by 80,000 this fiscal so far, he said.
The platform deals primarily in wheat, paddy, soybeans, mustard and pulses. It also deals in cotton, spices, pepper, clove, cardamom, and chillies.
In FY 23, It has disbursed Rs 1000 crore from its own balance sheet and facilitated Rs 9000 crore of disbursements in partnership with multiple banks. The company earned Rs 120 crore from its financing activities which includes its interest income (Rs 60 cr) and finance facilitation fee (Rs 60 cr) covering collateral management fees.
It has partnerships with 27 banks which have collectively disbursed about Rs 9000 crores in FY23 to farmers. FPOs, SME processors and other smaller agri stakeholders. The company earned Rs 120 crore from its financing activities, which include its own interest income and finance facilitation fee from banks covering collateral management fee.
Arya, which competes with NCML, NHBC Staragri, Farmart, Bijak, Ergos, Dehaat, Ninjacart, Waycool, and Samunnati, among others, manages warehouses spanning over 100 million square feet.