Former Nabard Chairman Dr Harsh Kumar Bhanwala joins Arya as an Independent Director

According to a press release from Arya, the leading agritech player has appointed Dr Harsh Kumar Bhanwala as a Non-Executive Independent Director of the company. He will mentor and advise Arya as it scales/develops and reimagines the ecosystem through a comprehensive portfolio of agriservices powered by its platform arya.ag.

Between 2013 and 2020, Dr Bhanwala was chairman of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard), which oversees all aspects of agricultural credit as well as the supervision of regional rural banks and cooperative banks. Prior to that, he was the Chairman and Managing Director of India Infrastructure Finance Company (IIFCL). He had begun his career at Nabard and worked there for almost three decades.

Since leaving Nabard in 2020, Dr Bhanwala has been serving as Executive Chairman of Capital India Finance Ltd, a non-banking financial company, and is also an adviser to agritech venture capital firm, Omnivore.

Arya’s digital marketplace combines warehouse discovery, financing and market linkages to create an integrated digital platform that is accessible across the value chain from smallholder farmers to large corporates.

“We are thrilled to have Dr Bhanwala on Arya’s Board of Directors. We believe that his deep understanding of India’s agricultural landscape will be an asset to us as we build equitable agri value chains assuring inclusive growth and greater transparency,” said Prasanna Rao, Co-founder and Managing Director, Arya.

Dr Bhanwala added, “Arya has been working at the farmgate to strengthen agriculture value chains through its integrated range of services. I am happy to be part of this dynamic team as they create more technology-enabled, viable options for enhancing the market power of smallholders and their organizations.”

Arya focuses on integrated post-harvest services. Driving technology through a human-centred approach, its agritech and fintech platform leverages technology to bridge the last mile. Through its profitable business model with over 5.0 million tonnes of storage capacity across 5,500 warehouses in 21 Indian states, it helps farmers, aggregators, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), food processors and end-user corporates avoid post-harvest losses.