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A project kick-off meeting was organized on 14th November 2022, at the Conference Hall of ARIAS Society, Khanapara, Guwahati. The meeting was hosted by the ARIAS team led by Mr. Nitin Singh and was attended by the fund management team from EY India led by Mr. Satyam Shivam Sundaram and representatives from all sub-project partners. During the meeting, the sub-project partners made presentations on the status of the project implementation approach plans including resource placement, training, office setup, reaching out to and building relationships with FPC/ farmer bodies, services on offer, and innovations, among others. The scope of convergence among the partners and information resource sharing at all levels was encouraged. Also, terms of operations under Xamahar were explained by a representative from the Accounts team under the ARIAS Society. Monitoring and evaluation aspects of the project were also discussed during the meeting.
A Grant Agreement Signing Ceremony was organized at the Assam Administrative Staff College, Khanapara, Guwahati on 29th September 2022, wherein ARIAS society went into an agreement under Xamahar Agrifin Challenge Fund with eight agri-tech and finance companies from across India for bringing in innovative and need-based service offerings for farmers and agricultural practitioners from the state.
Launched on December 2021, the XAMAHAR AGRIFIN Challenge Fund, through the rigorous process of selection, finalized eight financial institutions or sub-projects under the project. These subprojects will work in one or more of the 23 priority districts of APART, directly benefitting 1,25,000 producers over the fund life, including 30% of women beneficiaries.
The eight sub-projects selected under the XAMAHAR Challenge Fund are the following:
- ESAF Small Finance Bank Limited
- Rang De P2P Financial Services Private Limited
- GoGreen Warehouses Private Limited
- National Insurance VIMO SEWA Cooperative Ltd
- Green Agrevolution Private Limited
- FIA Technology Services Private Ltd
- Manipal Business Solutions Private Limited
- Samunnati Financial Intermediation & Services Private Limited
Assam AgriFin– Xamahar grant agreement signing ceremony was chaired by Smti. Roshni Aparanji Korati, IAS, State Project Director, ARIAS Society. The ceremony was attended by senior representatives from all sub-project partners, officials of agriculture line departments, ARIAS society, and team members from EY India, which is the fund manager for the Assam AgriFin–Xamahar Challenge Fund.
It is expected that the sub-projects will scale up the innovations commercially as a part of their business model, leading to improved access to financial services in agriculture for un/underserved rural segments through geographic, customer, and product & service diversification.
Inclusive Finance India Summit ’21 is a global policy platform on financial inclusion to influence India’s Financial Inclusion strategy and campaign. The Assam Agrifin Xamahar Challenge Fund was formally introduced at the summit by Mr. Nitin Singh, Financial Services Expert, ARIAS, to reach out to the top thinkers in Financial Inclusion.