Our start-up idea in Negocio 2011, proposing the development of social networking solutions to revolutionize the domain of Indian Agriculture.

2. Mission
Our vision is to developing a huge farming
community through various lingual friendly,
social networking initiatives and modernizing
the entire Indian Agriculture Sector, through a
unique, cost-effective solution for the farmers
and the rural community as a whole.

3. Product Description
• A Social Networking portal exclusively for farmers of different
regions of India to interact with each other without the barrier of
language. Access provided via Mobile Apps and Web Platforms
• Same portal to be utilized by Agro-Firms for analysis of the best
crops to be utilized for the manufacture of their products.
• In-depth analysis and expert advice for efficient usage of soil, seeds,
fertilizers, pesticides and other Agricultural Technologies
• Regular Weather Reports, Vendor details, Purchaser details,
available markets, Insurance Policies, Government Schemes,
Market Rates, Cold Storage Details and various other logistics
through a Mobile based Platform.

4. Product Description
Logistic Details
•Connect to other farmers
Farmers
•Language Friendly Interactive
•Post Pictures of Harvest Medium
•Analyze regional and AgroLinked
individual profiles of crop Social
produce Network Data
•Sponsorship access to various Centers
other information and
parameters
•Crop Profiling and
Research Access for
further projects
Agro-Based Agricultural •Testing of new
Industries Universities information and crop
procedures

5. Recent
Horticulture, Develop-
Floriculture, Insurance
ments
Animal Details &
Poultry Providers
details
Seed
Profiles, Farming
Sowing Equipment
Techniques Details
& Providers
Vendor Schemes
&
Profiles Policies
Data
Centers
Cold
Fertilizer Storage,
Details & warehouse
Providers Details &
Providers
Insecticide Transporter
Details & Details &
Providers Providers
Different
Crop Current
Details
Soil Market
and Prices
Analysis Analysis
Profiles

6. System Resources
• System Architecture
– arsDigita Community System (ACS) platform : a open-
source toolkit is used to build interactive web based
applications.
– Unix based platform with Oracle RDBMS.
• Development Hardware
– Network of Intel based workstations running FreeBSD
UNIX as our development environment.
• Connectivity Solutions
– Sun 450 Enterprise-class machines for our production
environment.
– Solutions for increasing our bandwidth to the Internet as
our user base grows, preventing system slow-downs and
unnecessary downtime.

7. Consumer Benefits
• Increase their productivity by around 15-20%.
• Obtain vendor details and purchaser details and be able to analyze
the various rates, so as to derive maximum profits by growing a
particular crop.
• Eliminate the trends where the vendors reap out profits from
farmers by charging undue rates.
• Agro-Industries will be able to purchase good quality crops by
analyzing the farmer profiles and their crops (on the web) and
decrease purchasing costs by 10-15%.
• Farmers will take advantage of Social Networking.
• Revolution in the field of Agriculture and modernize it completely.

8. Recent Trends
• A rise of 18% in use of the mobiles by rural subscribers. (Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)[1])
• Rising from 93.2 million users at the end of last year, there are
109.7 million rural mobile subscribers.
• Indian mobile services companies and handset vendors have
identified the rural market as a new growth opportunity, as urban
markets are getting saturated.
• Huge market for Mobile Value Added Services. The growth in
mobile VAS is attributed to the rural market.
• With the advent of 3G services, the VAS are bound to get higher
and higher. [2]
• The government has decided to extend broadband connectivity to
all villages by 2012 [3]

9. Source: TRAI

10. Target Market
There are three major layers of users that could be targeted
for utilizing our product:
1. The Agricultural Community of the farmers which
constitute around 58.4 % (approx) of the Indian
Population.
– We aim to market the product initially in Southern India,
Regions of Deccan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Punjab.
2. The Agro-based Firms and vendors involved in selling of
products like fertilizers, pesticides, crop seeds, etc. as well
as those involved in purchasing of the crop products.
3. Organizations like Dairy Boards, FICCI, CCI, NGOs,
Agricultural Universities etc.

11. Barriers to Entry
• Access to expertise and excellent advices based on crop
development and protection from renowned agriculturists
and students of appreciated agricultural institution at
minimal rates of Rs. 100
• Access to social networking without lingual discrimination.
• Majority of farmers (located in target regions) possess
mobiles. Computer & internet facilities easily available in
villages of Gujarat & Maharashtra.
• The farmers will be enrolled through active help of the
Gram Panchayats of the respective villages.
• Agro-based Firms would receive better quality crops for
their product development.

12. Competitive Landscape
• E-Choupal by ITC
– Service provided via Internet koisks and not mobiles, which is a
hindrance to growth.
– Service provided for select crops in select regions which are beneficial
to ITC for its agro-based products. (e.g. soyabean, wheat, tobacco)
– Part of supply chain for ITC. Crop produced is purchased by ITC itself.
• Thomson Reuters has been updating over 1 lakh farmers in the
country with the latest market trends, weather forecast, and crop
information via its SMS-based service.
– Costly to the range of Rs 60 per month
– No social networking initiatives and no interactive mechanism
• Nokia launched its Life Tools service in June, after a pilot project in
the Indian state of Maharashtra. The service offers agriculture
information, education, and entertainment targeted at people in
rural areas.

13. Growth Opportunities
• Product Expansion
– Reach out to other subsidiary fields like poultry farming,
honey industry, silk industry etc.
– Implementation in the Fish Industry.
• Market Expansion
– Currently aimed exclusively towards India, due to its huge
untapped market potential.
– Market expansion would be carried out after 5 years
aiming different countries which have a huge chunk of
revenue generated from such sectors.
– Agro-social Networking in true sense.
• New Avenues
– AgroClinics and AgroBanks Development.

14. Marketing & Strategies
Three major stages of operation:
• Stage 1: Developing of the entire Solution using Web 2.0 &
Mobile 2.0 Technologies and Deployment of the system
using Cloud Computing Concepts. (Startup Phase)
• Stage 2: Initial Enrollment of the Farmers, Agro-based
Firms, Dairy Boards, Farming Institutes etc. for the access to
the system.
• Stage 3: Development of Data Centers to serve first at the
regional level and then at the state level.
The enrollment of the farmers to the system, as well as
marketing of the scheme among the rural population is done
via the Gram Panchayats as well as NGOs of the region.

15. Marketing Plan
Phase Target Markets Type of Marketing Strategies
Phase I B2C Groundnut, Garlic, Mango Rural
(Gujarat & B2B Oil firms, Mango vendors etc. Organizational
Maharashtra) (June 2011- September 2011)
Phase II B2C Soyabean, Wheat, etc. Rural
(Punjab & B2B Firms like ITC and Parle Organizational
Haryana) (October 2011–February 2012)
Phase III B2C Coffee, Coriander Rural
(Deccan & B2B Nescafe etc. Organizational
South India) (March 2012 onwards)
Phase IV B2C Rice Rural
B2B (June 2012 - September 2012) Organizational
Types of Marketing Strategies Employed:
Rural: Trips to target villages, Radio, TV, Wall Paintings, Phone Calls, Product Demonstration
Organizational: Trips to partners, Personal Contacts, Letters, Email, Phone Calls, Written
Correspondences

16. Revenues
• Sponsorships
– Our Industry partners will pay to get the right to sponsor key
content areas on the site.
• Enrollment Charges
– Farmers who would be enrolled would have to pay Rs. 100
annually. (micro-finance rates)
• Research & Development Charges
– Various Agro-Universities will be able to acquire our data for
their own separate sponsored projects, at specific rates,
considering that the projects would in turn be helpful back to
the agricultural communities.
• Advertising
– For rental of the Web ‘real estate’ by relevant brands, revenue
would be generated from them.

17. Expenses
• Marketing Expenses:
– Advertising to farmers, firms, and universities.
– Expenses for market research, public relations, and promotional
activities.
• Content Development:
– Development of the entire social networking initiative.
– Need to acquire and license content from a variety of sources.
• Operations
– Included in this category are the expenses involved in
conducting online surveys as well as the contracting expenses
necessary to deploy the portal.
• General and Administrative (G&A)
– Other organizational charges

18. Startup Phase Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV
Population of Target Market 0 33592876 9903508 50901159 62313585
Total Registered Users 0 200000 300000 300000 350000
Linked Agro-Firms 0 35 55 60 70
Linked Agro-universities 0 20 15 30 25
Data Centers 0 40 35 25 20
Revenues
Enrollment 0 20000000 30000000 30000000 35000000
Sponsorship 0 11740295 14276460 7142160 26722430
Research and Development 0 1553140 2922285 3507690 4292050
Advertising 0 40000 100000 200000 450000
Total 0 33333435 47298745 40849850 66464480
Expenses
Marketing 200000 4000000 5000000 5000000 5000000
Content Development 200000 200000 200000 200000 200000
Operations 550000 1000000 1000000 1000000 1000000
G&A 50000 3000000 4000000 5000000 6500000
Total 1000000 8200000 10200000 11200000 12700000
Net Flow -1000000 25133435 37098745 29649850 53764480
Taxes (30%) 0 7540030 11129623 8894955 16129344
Cash Flow -1000000 17593404 25969121 20754895 37635136

19. 40000000
35000000
30000000
25000000
20000000
15000000
10000000
5000000
0
Startup Phase Phase I Phase II Phase III Phase IV
-5000000
Initial Investment: Rs. 10000000 (To be covered by bank loans and investments)
Returns generated after Phase I to cover up all dues

20. Long-Term Financial Strategies
• Venture Capital & Angel Investment
– We seek to partner with venture capital industry leaders that would provide
both financial assistance as well as industry, legal, technological and marketing
insights.
• Brand Partnerships
– Partnerships with traditional brands seeking to purchase high-quality
agricultural products for their own product lines are being looked into.
• Government Loans
– Government of India is very keen to develop the agricultural sector with the
help of IT ventures and it can be approached for loan on successful
achievement of targets
• IPO
– An IPO would clearly benefit the company by allowing us to leverage the
additional resources and market valuation to purchase additional
information, and increase company credibility.
• Franchising
– Expansion in the fields of development of AgroBanks and AgroClinics could be
facilitated by franchising them.

21. Risks
• Financial Risks
– Seasonal patterns of spending by advertisers and sponsors and trends
in advertising rates.
– Fluctuations in expected revenues from our strategic relationships.
• Content Delivery Risks
– Experience temporary system interruptions due to power and
telecommunications failures
– Vulnerability to breaches in our security and natural disasters.
– Outsourcing the server hosting function to a third party may leave
some systems interruptions outside of our control.
• Other Risks
– Privacy Issues
– Minor Risks of penetration of product due to political problems, as
well as hindrance in the implementation due to opposition from
various other forces and the orthodox mindset of the farmers.

22. Potential Exit Scenarios
• Initial Public Offering: We seek to go public within 5
years of operations. The funds used will both help
create liquidity for investors as well as allow for
additional capital to develop our international strategy.
• Acquisition Merger with Private or Public Company:
There are several key companies like ITC, Du Pont etc.
which are based on Agricultural products. Many have
worked on alternative solutions but lack the special
features we have.
• Government Collaboration: Indian Government is
constantly working out schemes for the betterment of
agriculture in the country. It tends to utilize the
IT Bubble to maximize the revenue generated from the
agriculture sector.

23. Appendix
1. http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/art
icle/168354/indias_rural_mobile_phone_use
rs_hit_100_million.html
2. http://www.watblog.com/2009/07/15/over-
100-million-rural-mobile-subscribers-in-india-
opportunity-for-mvas/
3. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Infote
ch/All-villages-to-be-broadband-
enabled/articleshow/4763505.cms
4. http://voicendata.ciol.com/content/top_stori
es/107120201.asp

24. State wise classification of Cultivators (Data Accumulated from Agricultural Census)
Cultivators (Main Agricultural Labour Male Cultivators (Main Male Agricultural Labour Female Cultivators (Main Female Agricultural Labour
StatesUts
and Marginal) (Main and Marginal) and Marginal) (Main and Marginal) and Marginal) (Main and Marginal)
India 127201525 106719640 85357781 57303658 41843744 49415982
Jammu & Kashmir 1591514 246421 1004535 190339 586979 56082
Himachal Pradesh 1954870 94171 834312 55658 1120558 38513
Punjab 2065067 1489861 1762869 1104140 302198 385721
Chandigarh 2141 563 1687 461 454 102
Uttarakhand 1570116 259683 684422 190494 885694 69189
Haryana 3018014 1278821 1855547 717133 1162467 561688
Delhi 37431 15773 26840 11224 10591 4549
Rajasthan 13140066 2523719 7062726 1055332 6077340 1468387
Uttar Pradesh 22167562 13400911 17479887 8245599 4687675 5155312
Bihar 8193621 13417744 6457265 8730251 1736356 4687493
Sikkim 131258 17000 70107 8762 61151 8238
Arunachal Pradesh 279300 18840 136336 10329 142964 8511
Nagaland 548845 30907 270927 15985 277918 14922
Manipur 379705 113630 214282 49928 165423 63702
Mizoram 256332 26783 130497 12775 125835 14008
Tripura 313300 276132 220962 162640 92338 113492
Meghalaya 467010 171694 255018 90888 211992 80806
Assam 3730773 1263532 2634068 832508 1096705 431024
West Bengal 5653922 7362957 4655210 5080236 998712 2282721
Jharkhand 3889506 2851297 2405371 1485322 1484135 1365975
Orissa 4247661 4999104 3347691 2587196 899970 2411908
Chhattisgarh 4311131 3091358 2466477 1262559 1844654 1828799
Madhya Pradesh 11037906 7400670 6882776 3518368 4155130 3882302
Gujarat 5802681 5161658 3906697 2509651 1895984 2652007
Daman & Diu 4034 1323 2008 347 2026 976
Andhra Pradesh 7859534 13832152 5201564 6453741 2657970 7378411
Maharashtra 11813275 10815262 6680696 4924034 5132579 5891228
Karnataka 6883856 6226942 4832840 2620927 2051016 3606015
Kerala 724155 1620851 602038 1078354 122117 542497
Tamil Nadu 5116039 8637630 3262489 4256360 1853550 4381270
Pondicherry 10900 72251 9637 42117 1263 30134