Agriculture technology: Changing the outlook of Indian agriculture

Agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, the industry accounts for 17% of GDP. It employs over 43% of the workers in India. Furthermore, agricultural production accounts for around 12% of overall exports. Agricultural technology has transformed the way agriculture has been done in previous years. The sector is expanding as a result of the massive increase in the use of mobile and the internet at the grassroots level. In 2019, total investment across sectors was $3.5 billion, with agriculture accounting for 16% of that total or $563 million spread across 58 transactions. Total investment across industries in 2020 is expected to be $2.6 billion. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, the agriculture sector got $440 million in 52 deals in 2020, accounting for 17 percent of overall investment, a 1% increase over 2019. There are about 600-700 agritech startups in India, with the majority of them have emerged in the last five years.