Arya.ag, MAS Financial Services tie up to offer agri-finance to small farmers and FPOs

Arya, India’s largest integrated grain commerce platform, has announced a tie-up with MAS Financial Services, a leading NBFC, to offer agri-finance to farmers with a specific focus on small farmers and Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). The services will be offered by Arya.ag’s lending services arm, Aryadhan Financial Services.

With its fifth such tie-up, Arya.ag aims to speed up its march as the country’s largest farming-community-focused fintech player.

The alliance will leverage Arya.ag’s digital technologies-led customer interface that enables a seamless and intelligent new-age end-user experience delivered over the fintech platform. Arya.ag’s distinct near-farm gate integrated offering, spanning storage solutions, digital lending and digital marketplace, works as the ideal platform for small and marginal farmers otherwise deprived of access to financial services.

Initially, the tie-up will offer digital lending services delivered over Arya.ag’s platform to farmers in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. With this tie-up, Arya.ag & MAS Financial Services are aiming to achieve Rs 100 crore co-lending portfolio with new-age digital technologies driving this enablement.

For borrowers, the eventual benefit is in the form of competitive costs and hassle-free loan processing with technology at the back end taking care of all inter-financier transaction requirements.

On the launch, Chattanathan Devarajan, Co-founder of Arya.ag, said, “We are thoroughly proud and excited about this association with MAS as it creates a huge opportunity to benefit smallholder farmers. Post-harvest agri-financing through WRF has a large unaddressed market estimated to be close to one lakh crore rupees, two-thirds of which is out of reach of the formal banking sector.”

Kamlesh Gandhi, CMD, MAS Financial Services, said, “We believe that well-capitalized and -managed NBFCs with niche segments can come together to create synergies that can work as a catalyst for financial inclusion. Our tie-up with Arya.ag will help MAS expand to small agri value chain participants in tier-II and -III markets and enhance the efficiency of these entities.”

Farm produce-as-collateral model has ensured that Arya.ag’s lending services have been NPA-free since inception with an average per borrower ticket size of Rs 28 lakhs. Arya.ag is today the largest NBFC in Warehouse Receipt Finance (WRF) uniquely distinguished by its deep outreach to farmers and FPOs. 

The technology-led model enables minimizing transaction costs along with lower interest rates for the borrowers while expediting the turnaround time (TAT) for loan disbursements. The company facilitates finance of over $700mn annually.