India’s agricultural sector is a pillar of the country’s economy and a major force in global food trade. The country produces a wide range of agricultural products, including rice, spices, and seafood, with the sector employing nearly half of India’s working population — from the smallholder farmers who grow the crops to the processors and exporters who bring them to market.
But raw crops alone rarely secure a fair return — value is added downstream, when produce is processed and packaged for sale to buyers. Today, India’s agri-processing market is valued at over $400 billion and is one of the largest and fastest-growing in the world, with the country emerging as a reliable exporter of value-added products.
For the nearly two million micro, small, and medium size agri-processors, this journey from material to market-ready product can be complex, costly, and time-consuming. They must source from farmers on one end and connect their refined products with buyers and global markets on the other.
Since 2021, Agrizy, a tech-led contracted research, development, and manufacturing organization (CRDMO) for global food & beverages and wellness brands, Agrizy has worked to streamline and standardize this effort, helping processors develop and scale value-added products. With investment support from Accion, the company brings together processing, manufacturing, and market access, helping processors secure consistent demand, improve efficiency, and connect with larger agrifood buyers.
Agrizy’s capabilities help tailor processors’ output to meet the quality, compliance, and regulatory standards that large buyers — both domestic and international — require. That support helps expand market reach for the many smallholder farmers whose raw produce feeds the chain.
One such processor is Pothu Jahnavi, owner of a small turmeric-processing facility in Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. After seven years in investment banking, Pothu decided to transition her career to the agrifood-processing business, driven by a desire to build local impact while staying close to her family. Her company processes raw turmeric for export to foreign markets, and Agrizy’s support has helped her create value-added products from the raw spice. Freshly harvested organic turmeric, sourced from farmers in the Northeast and the Araku region, is procured at better price realizations, helping farmers capture greater value from their produce. The turmeric then moves to Pothu’s processing facility, where it is cleaned and dried into turmeric slices, or polished into double-polished turmeric fingers, a premium product with impurities removed.
While the business had strong operational potential, accessing reliable and structured markets remained a challenge for Pothu. Partnering with Agrizy helped streamline the supply chain and connect her facility to broader markets, enabling more consistent demand. Today, her business has grown to employ 60 people. “Before Agrizy, we had less demand, less profit, and less value addition in the market,” Pothu said. “Working with Agrizy made us get consistent demand, which made us get higher capacity utilization and more value addition.”
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