There are some interesting developments in the crypto / DeFi space, notably protocols like Goldfinch which are pooling capital from investors who want to invest in real-world assets. Recently, Branch, which provides unsecured consumer loans via mobile, secured $10mn to deploy in India at 17% via Goldfinch from Cauris and Almavest.
Given the amount of capital sloshing around in the crypto space, the challenges of rural / farmer group credit in India, we are curious about whether there may be an opportunity here.
Practically, the idea is to come up with a couple “financial product” ideas and gauge liquidity provider (crypto-speak for lender or donor) interest. There are also a bunch of regulatory and currency exchange issues we need to work on in parallel.
With any sort of debt product there is a serious risk that we create more harm than good for farmers and we need to be super wary of this.
Potential ideas:
Working capital loan for FPOs: See here
Ecosystem Services payments: Go direct to funders and avoid the registries which eliminates complexity and issues like requirement for land records and additionality
Sustainability finance: Help de-risk transition to sustainable ag practices by providing capital during a 2-3 year transition period. Maybe link w a certification standard if we believe that might help with price realization once the transition is complete