The Samunnati Foundation delivers governance, sustainability, and advisory support, helping FPOs (farmers producer organisations) evolve into resilient institutions.
New Delhi:
From a banking clerk to the founder of Samunnati, India’s largest agri-enterprise, Anil Kumar SG’s trajectory is an inspiring pivot. Kumar started his career at a bank counter, but soon realised there was more he had to do. After seeing that farmers, the backbone of India’s economy, were denied formal credit due to a lack of collateral and institutional backing, he decided to bring about structural transformation in India’s agricultural system. This fueled the establishment of Samunnati. The enterprise moved far beyond the narrow scope of financial inclusion, aiming instead to be a comprehensive enabler of the entire agri-value chain.
n an email interaction with India TV, Kumar shares his journey of how launching Samunnati meant shedding the comfort of a major institution and embracing a complete mindset shift. Also, he discussed how the AMLA approach (Aggregation, Market Linkage, and Advisory) is addressing the whole hierarchy of needs of smallholder farmers.
Here are the edited excerpts from the interview:
Q: Could you elaborate on the key turning points that shifted your career focus from a banking clerk to a founder in the agri-finance sector?
Anil Kumar SG: My professional journey began as a banking clerk and evolved into leadership roles in the development and financial inclusion space. During my time at ICICI Bank, I witnessed firsthand how smallholder farmers, who form the backbone of our nation’s economy, remained outside the formal financial system due to a lack of collateral, data, and institutional support. This deep-rooted exclusion drove me to envision a platform that could unlock their potential through innovation, empathy, and collaboration.
The key turning point came when I realised that India’s agriculture didn’t just need more credit, it needed a new way to make markets work for smallholder farmers. In 2014, this understanding led me to found Samunnati, with a vision to move beyond financial inclusion and become an enabler of the entire agri-value chain. Our mission was, and remains, to make markets work better for small-holder farmers — not as beneficiaries, but as active participants and leaders in the economy.
Q: What were the biggest challenges you faced when transitioning from a large institution like ICICI Bank to founding your own company, Samunnati?
Anil Kumar SG: Moving from a large, structured institution like ICICI Bank to building Samunnati from the ground up required a complete mindset shift, from operating within systems to creating them.
The biggest challenge was unlearning traditional banking principles and designing financing models that truly work for smallholder farmers, where formal credit data or collateral are often missing. Convincing investors and partners that agriculture can be both viable and scalable was another hurdle. Over time, by demonstrating that risk lies not in agriculture but in weak linkages, we built a sustainable, purpose-driven enterprise that continues to empower every player across the agri value chain.
Some key attributes that have been instrumental in this transition were perseverance, a commitment to continuous learning, and deep empathy. I’ve found that staying resilient through uncertainty, while constantly seeking to learn from both success and failure, has helped me navigate the complexities of the agriculture and rural finance sectors that demand both patience and adaptability.
Q: As a leader, what do you consider to be the most crucial lesson you have learned throughout your journey?
Anil Kumar SG: Empathy and systems thinking go hand in hand. Agriculture teaches patience — it’s a sector where outcomes often take seasons or even years. Through this journey, I’ve learned that true leadership is about enabling ecosystems, not just organisations.
At Samunnati, farmer-centricity is not just a value — it’s our DNA. The agricultural ecosystem is inherently fragmented, with multiple stakeholders — from smallholder farmers and FPO leaders to field officers, input suppliers, and policymakers — each playing a vital role.
Our AMLA approach (Agriculture, Markets, Leadership, Access) is built on this belief in co-creation and collective action. Every engagement begins with the smallholder farmer at the centre, and every decision — from credit underwriting to technology adoption — is guided by one simple question: How can we make the agricultural ecosystem work better for farmers and help them achieve sustainable outcomes?
By keeping an open mind to collaboration, sharing knowledge, and leveraging complementary strengths, we’ve learned that when you focus on building the right partnerships and aligning everyone around the farmer, everything else naturally falls into place.
Q: How exactly does Samunnati work?
Anil Kumar SG: At Samunnati, we believe the key to transforming Indian agriculture lies in making markets work for smallholder farmers by unlocking the power of collectivisation and enabling the agri-value chain to function at a higher equilibrium.
We operate through a holistic, integrated model covering finance, trade, advisory, and innovation:
- Unlocking Scale through FPOs: We partner with Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) to enable collective access to finance, inputs, and markets.
- Reimagining Agricultural Credit: Through Samunnati Finance Pvt Ltd, we have developed inhouse underwriting models keeping in mind the volatility of the sector and assess the collective cash flow of FPOs rather than individual farmer risk. One of our main product: Instant Pre-Approved Loan (IPL) provide ₹5 lakh collateral-free loans, building financial credibility from the ground up. Using access to customised and seasonally oriented credit, we are helping FPOs build a credit history and make them creditworthy, where going forward they can start availing loans from institutional banks or upgrade to higher limits within Samunnati along with making use of other solutions and services offered by us.
- Market Linkage and Trade Facilitation: Our trade arm—Samunnati Agri Value Chain Solutions Pvt Ltd—connects over 30,000+ FPOs with 3,500 agri-enterprises, ensuring fair prices, faster payments, and trust-based trade.
- Advisory and Capacity Building: The Samunnati Foundation delivers governance, sustainability, and advisory support, helping FPOs evolve into resilient institutions.
- Technology as the Backbone: Platforms like Samunnati.digital, enable an entire stack of services from digitization operations and market linkages, while our innovation lab SAIL brings AgTech and data-driven solutions to farmers.
Q: Samunnati works to improve the value supply chain from ‘farm to plate.’ Could you provide a specific example of how the company has achieved this and the impact it has had?
Anil Kumar SG: The agricultural value chain encompasses every stakeholder involved in taking produce from the farm to the plate, including farmers, FPOs, aggregators, traders, processors, and market enablers. At Samunnati, we engage with every node in this chain to make it more efficient, inclusive, and sustainable.
Our model is built on the AMLA approach, Aggregation, Market Linkage, and Advisory, addressing the complete hierarchy of needs of smallholder farmers. We don’t just cater to their immediate financial requirements; we also help future-proof their operations through holistic, partnership-driven solutions.
As a result, several FPOs that began as informal collectives have now evolved into creditworthy, professionally managed institutions, many accessing formal bank credit for the first time. Farmers engaged through these interventions have seen income increases of 15–30 per cent, alongside significant improvements in transaction efficiency.
By integrating finance, market access, and advisory, Samunnati ensures that each element of the agri value chain strengthens the next, creating a truly sustainable ecosystem.
6. How do you see the future of the agri-finance sector in India, and what role do you envision Samunnati playing in that future?
The future of agri-finance in India will be defined by data, collaboration, and decentralisation. Financial inclusion will increasingly rely on alternative credit scoring, climate-risk analytics, and digital-first lending models.
At Samunnati, as we move into our next phase, Samunnati 2.0, we envision two key priorities.
First, to attain scale through technology integration, by building and strengthening our four digital marketplaces:
- Input Marketplace connecting farmers and FPOs to affordable agri-inputs,
- Output Marketplace linking them to reliable buyers and institutional markets,
- Credit Marketplace enabling seamless access to finance through partner-driven lending models, and
- Consumer Marketplace connecting the agri-value chain directly with end consumers.
Second, to evolve as a truly holistic solutions provider across the agri value chain — where Samunnati Finance, our trade arm, and the parent company work together to enhance operational efficiency, attract more debt capital, and optimize processes.
Together, these efforts will help us build a digitally empowered, partnership-driven ecosystem, aligned with the broader transformation required to make India’s agri sector more resilient, scalable, and future-ready.
Q: Given the importance of agricultural tariffs, does Samunnati provide guidance to FPOs on how tariff policies affect crop economics, especially in international trade?
Anil Kumar SG: Yes, at Samunnati, we place strong emphasis on empowering Agri Value Chain Players with timely market intelligence and policy insights. Our in-house research desk continuously monitors agri-commodity prices, tariff movements, and trade trends, publishing regular market intelligence reports. These insights are then channelled through our Advisory arm which operates under the SAIL, these insights are shared with FPOs and our partner networks in actionable formats, helping them make informed decisions on cropping patterns, procurement, and sales.
We also collaborate with AgriTech partners to provide market intelligence and price forecasting, enabling FPOs to plan their cropping patterns and sales strategies more effectively in response to changing trade dynamics.
Q: What steps does Samunnati take to ensure women farmers and rural youth are active beneficiaries of your model?
Anil Kumar SG: Empowering women and rural youth is a core focus at Samunnati. We have a dedicated team within our Sustainable Finance vertical that works specifically on inclusive and gender-focused interventions. Through our not-for-profit arm, the Samunnati Foundation, and multiple anchor partners, we actively promote all-women FPOs and ensure that rural women gain membership in collectives, which then provide them access to finance, technology, and capacity-building support.
Today, women constitute 55 per cent of our total farmer clients, including smallholders, women-led FPOs, and rural agri-entrepreneurs. Over 32 per cent of FPOs we serve have at least one woman member with access to formal finance, and 15 per cent are majority-woman-led.
For rural youth, we focus on climate-smart technologies and innovative approaches that make agriculture attractive, efficient, and forward-looking. By introducing new-age solutions and fostering new ways of thinking, we aim to enable the next generation of rural leaders to actively participate and drive transformation in the agricultural ecosystem.
