Arya.ag, one of India’s largest integrated grain commercial platforms, has added onions to the list of its commodities it funds and plans to include apple too.

“Onion is one commodity we have added. We are exploring adding apples. We will start a study on this and work mostly in Himachal (on this), said its executive director and co-founder, Anand Chandra in an online interaction with businessline. 

Stating that the company is looking at new ventures and segments, he said it has now evolved how onions can be stored for a longer period and lend against it. The company, which deals with over 40 commodities, uses the technology that is cost-effective and its customers will be able to bear the cost.

Arya wants to make systems more intelligent rather than looking at high-end cost structures. For onion storage, the technology will monitor moisture which spoils onion. The storage would be scientific, storing the bulb in well aerated hut-like structures. 

Looking at cutting-edge tech

On the other hand, the company is looking for cutting-edge technologies rather than opting for unremunerative systems. For example, it favours artificial intelligence (AI) based camera monitoring systems over close circuit television cameras.

“AI-based cameras will work only on certain triggers which we define.  It will help to understand if the warehouse is not open at 10 am or is not closed at 6 pm or if there is some movement of a person around the warehouse at night,” he said.  

Arya is in talks with some entities in Africa to provide technical know-how on commodities lending and warehousing. “They expect us to come and start the business, but we are not comfortable to do that. What we are comfortable to do is to help them on the knowledge and the tech part,” said Chandra. 

The company does not have the bandwidth to start operations in Africa now as it is operationally intensive. “We are happy with what is happening in the country right now,” the firm’s executive director and co-founder said, adding that it does not make economic sense for it to take manpower from India to other countries. 

Potential in Bengal

Arya, which has popularised hermetic storage bags, has put its plans to expand it on hold as its vendor has not been able to keep up with supplies. 

“We are looking to partner with some Indian vendors who can build a similar structure for us. We are in an advanced stage of discussions on that front,” said Chandra. 

On brick and mortar warehouses, the company currently covers about 60 per cent of the total districts in the country, especially in small cities and towns.  

Barring Kerala, Kashmir and some States in the eastern part, Arya is present across most States. In Bengal, its presence is in few locations due to government “challenges” faced earlier.

However, the company sees potential for pulses crop there. “A lot of opportunities are seen due to Haldia and Kolkata ports, which are good.  We are looking to explore more on that front,” said the Arya co-founder.

Difficult 1-1/2 years

Stating that the post year-and-a-half were a “technically difficult” period, he said it was due to global scenarios and government policies. It was a period when prices of most commodities declined. 

“This meant participants in the market struggled in terms of cash flows. Earlier, they used to do one or the other commodity and cover it up,” he said. However, prices of some of the commodities, such as soybeans and chilli, have begun to rise.  

Despite these challenges, the company’s revenue was over ₹550 crore with a 20 per cent rise in the top line. Profit before tax was about ₹50 crore. “This financial year, we aim to top ₹700 crore in revenue,” said Chandra.

Arya, which has three verticals - storage, finance and trade facilitation, has witnessed commodities to the tune of ₹5,000 crore traded on its platform.

The company disbursed ₹2,000 crore last fiscal as loans to farmers against commodities. Some 8-9 lakh farmers are directly or indirectly through Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) work with it.

Quick loan processing

In the case of FPOs, Arya works directly with the former aggregating stocks and the latter lending money against them. Most of these 650 FPOs it works with function in Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

Arya leads in lending against commodities, garnering over 60 per cent share. This is mainly in view of the turnaround time for lending is only a few minutes. 

“If a farmer comes to us with his produce and by the time it is off-loaded, he could go through the main process of getting the Aadhaar-linked one-time password. The farmer can sign the storage contract and avail between ₹60 lakh and ₹90 lakh based on the value of the produce,” said Chandra, adding that the sanctioning of the loan takes less than 3 minutes. 

This also helps farmers to sell their produce off-season or when the price goes up. Arya also offers farmers the choice of buyers through its trading platform. Also, farmers are paid upfront the price, while the company collects it from the buyer before the credit period ends. 

Published on May 21, 2026