Chandigarh Inc: Meet the man whose heart beats for farmers

What inspired you to start this venture?

I come from a family with strong agricultural roots. While I was doing well abroad, in my heart, I was keen to use my technical knowledge and skills to benefit smallholder farmers. The smallholder farmers feed 80% of the planet but are one amongst the most underserved communities in the world. I feel that prosperous smallholder farmers are key to solving global food security and climate change-related issues. I started HFN with a mission to ensure that no smallholder farmer is left behind.

The move to the US

My love for coding and computers led me to create India’s first commercial text-to-speech system in Hindi in 2001 as part of a young company. Later I joined Microsoft R&D, Hyderabad in 2005 and then later moved to Microsoft Headquarters in Redmond, Washington where I have helped build XBOX, Microsoft OS, Windows Phone.

Challenges you faced during the initial days as entrepreneur

Switching my well-paying career especially after my early days with limited resources and becoming an entrepreneur was in itself a challenging task. My initial investors backed out and I had debts with my family to look after. When I started building HFN and shifted my base to India, covid and the lockdown happened. But I think that challenge worked as an opportunity for me as I could not move out, so to help the distressed farmers across the country sell their crops I started twitter page @harvestingfn. Within days of its launch, the handle logged close to 15,000 followers and over $500 million worth of crops were sent to my personal WhatsApp in the hope of finding buyers. We were able to facilitate sales to several national & international buyers.

What is it that you like the most about Punjab?

Punjab has enormous resources, especially when it comes to agriculture. It led India’s green revolution, and has the potential to lead a regenerative agriculture movement.

What is it about Punjab that pains/disappoints you the most?

Farmers in Punjab over the time are stuck with growing wheat and paddy, and are not willing to take up crops which can not only give them better returns but are also better for climate/soil. There is no reason to not have Amul like success in Punjab. I wish to see co-operatives working in Punjab.

How can the govt ecosystem help startups?

Government needs to ensure that the startup ecosystem is nurtured and that businesses feel safe & valued in the state. Punjab can be a fantastic destination for investors, but compared to other states it seems to be lagging behind. Government needs to build a strong team of operators from industry and ensure that the stage is set for local & global players to build & grow together.

Future plans

We have built tech enabled systems/processes to help farmer/farmer cooperatives work efficiently and reach profitability. We are partnering with financial service providers, input providers as well as large corporate buyers to streamline the process, drive efficiency and help farmers make more money.

Secret Sauce

Hard Work, Perseverance and luck

The daily fix

I love what i do at HFN and I don’t need any other outlet as “hobby” but I have taken up horse riding which gives me a great workout as well as i find it meditative.