TAD NewsDesk, NEW DELHI: Aquaconnect, one of the leading Aquaculture technology company in India, has introduced AquaCRED to facilitate agricultural farmers of small and medium scale with a secured formal financial network. It is a technological intervention which works with both front and back end and focuses on risk estimation based financial strategy. It also enables the BFSI players to extend their products through various steps involved to ease the availability of agricultural loans to the farmers.
‘AquaCRED’ detects threats to the fund facilities and Banks in providing proper credits to the farmers.
India stands at the top in the list of aquaculture trade globally. The gross value for prawns and fish production is over $17 billion. Small or medium-scale farmers are responsible for the maximum produce (above 90% of the crop). Despite their significant contribution in total production, they face difficulties when it comes to receiving licensed funding. It mostly occurs due to their inaccessibility to licensed credits required to buy aquaculture tools in the entire production cycle.
The machine learning will help AquaCRED to join “eyes in the sky” (secondary data- satellite remote sensing solutions) and “boots on the ground” (primary data- samples of the pond) thus facilitating the licensed sponsoring. It detects and reduces the threat, thus easing the work of BFSI to modify the industry by making the process transparent and foreseeable. The new launch of Aquaconnect opens up the option of formal funds and loans for the Aquaculture farmers to purchase agricultural equipment and other essentials.
Highlighting the specialities of the launch, the Founder and CEO of Aquaconnect Mr Rajamanohar Somasundaram, said, “In my view, the biggest impediment for the growth of the aquaculture sector is the lack of data and the absence of formal finance. While it is a multi-billion dollar ecosystem, Indian banks, financial service providers and insurers are staying away from this opportunity due to the lack of data and credit risk assessment framework. AquaCRED offers risk management solutions to BFSI stakeholders for enabling underwriting and asset monitoring capabilities through GIS remote sensing and machine learning technology stack. At the farmer front, credible data profiles create a huge opportunity for fish and shrimp farmers to access formal finance with low interest and reduce the dependency on informal lenders”.
Mr Amit Salunkhe (Dhas), VP Sales at Aquaconnect, said, “Our goal at AquaConnect is to turn data into information & information into actionable insights for Banks, Financial intuitions & Insurance companies, thereby empowering them to invest in the growth of aquaculture farmers and eventually within the industry itself. AquaCRED is going to be the single most important key which shall successfully bridge the gap between BFSI institutions and Fish & Shrimp Farmers.”
Due to the inadequate data interpretation and unavailability threat free process, it becomes tough for BSFI segments to trust several shareholders, within the value chain, with their products, especially the ones exposed to larger threats. Farmers turn to informal options of credits like feed & farm-care product traders and retailers due to the limitation of verified loans. As a result, they pay comparatively higher interest amounts per annum. It hugely affects the income of these farmers.
A month before Aquaconnect launched Aquaconnect HUBS to increase the use of technology amongst aqua farmers and to provide last-mile connectivity and farm equipment. The full-stack agro tech startup contributes to upgrading farm productivity and survivability with the help of AI and Satellite remote sensing machinery.
