Arya.ag lent $1.5 billion against stored grain, with zero bad loans

More than 60% of India's smallholder farmers have no formal credit, and post-harvest finance is the scarcest kind: demand exceeds ₹1.4 lakh crore, yet banks bypass small producers who lack collateral, paperwork and a credit history. At harvest, cash-strapped farmers sell immediately at depressed prices or watch grain rot in poor storage, where losses often exceed 7%.

Arya.ag reimagined the loan around the crop. Farmers deposit produce in one of 11,000+ digitized warehouses across 425 districts; the platform values the grain and disburses a loan within 30 minutes, and the stored commodity itself — not the borrower's creditworthiness — becomes the collateral. A business-correspondent and co-lending network brings banks like South Indian Bank and HSBC into the deal.

The risk math changed: because the collateral is a liquid, certified commodity rather than a promise, Arya.ag has run near-zero NPAs over eight years, facilitated over $1.54 billion in credit in the last financial year, and disbursed more than ₹1,500 crore in FY24. Farmers and FPOs can hold grain and sell when prices are good instead of distress-selling at harvest.

Automation made it cheap to scale: 52% of disbursements run with minimal human involvement, targeted to reach 75%, and a market-linkage loop draws millers and corporates to certified grain, which attracts more farmers. The company reached 800,000 farmers and 1,600+ FPOs by FY25 and is aiming for a main-board IPO by FY27.