Budget | Finance Minister Sitharaman announces fund to encourage agri-startups

Photo used for representational purpose only.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while presenting the Union Budget 2023-24, announced the setting up of an agriculture accelerator fund to encourage agri-startups by young entrepreneurs in rural areas.

Talking about the need to develop digital infrastructure to aid the agriculture sector in the country, Ms. Sitharaman said that digital public infrastructure for agriculture will be built as an ‘open source, open standard, and interoperable public good.’

The move towards digitisation of agriculture is expected to enable inclusive farmer-centric services like farm inputs, crop estimation, market intelligence, crop planning, and support for agri-based industries and startups.

The Finance Minister is presenting the Union Budget for the Financial Year 2023-24 before the Parliament on February 1, 2023. The last year’s budget focused on the revival of the economy against the backdrop of uncertainties caused by the recurring COVID-19 infections. This year, however, in the Economic Survey tabled by Ms. Sitharaman, she claimed that the economy has recovered from the Covid shock.

“The Indian economy in 2022-23 has nearly ‘recouped’ what was lost, ‘renewed’ what had paused, and ‘re-energised’ what had slowed during the pandemic and since the conflict in Europe,” the Survey has asserted.