Balwaan Krishi banks on accessibility and services to help farmers own agri-equipment

Small and marginal farmers often resort to sharing communal resources and renting equipment to save on capital expenditures. As the demand for machines like harvesters, weeders, and sprayers is seasonal, not many farmers find it wise to use their cash runway to purchase the equipment. 

At a tractor launch event, brothers Rohit Bajaj and Shubham Bajaj noticed something similar. While farmers were engrossed over the machine’s features, they didn’t enquire about the price of tractors. The brothers realised there was a need for affordable solutions for small to medium landholding. 

In 2016, they founded Modish TractorAurKisan Pvt Ltd, which operates the brand Balwaan Krishi. 

The brand sells pre-harvest tools and machines used in tilling, sowing, weeding, spraying, irrigation, and harvesting, among others. It strives to make its tools affordable, accessible, user-friendly and lightweight so that they can be used by both men and women, who constitute a large part of the agricultural labour.

It currently offers over 70 SKUs, including water pumps and even fences, through its website and general trade channels and plans to launch over 40 more in the near term. 

What makes Balwaan different

Balwaan Krishi competes with various local sellers, domestic brands as well multinational companies.

“These local players play on price points. They keep their machines cheap and that is their best USP. When Balwaan charges a 20% premium compared with these local players, its value is engineered to be reflected in customer service and knowledge distribution,” Rohit Bajaj, Co-founder and CEO of Balwaan Krishi, tells YourStory.

Balwaan is banking on pre- and after-sales services to differentiate itself from peers including Agriplus, Kisan Kraft, Honda, Stealth, and Husqvarna, among others. It offers a toll-free multilingual advisory centre wherein farmers can inquire and understand which tools best fit their requirements and their application.

It offers pre-sales services in Marwadi, Marathi, Assamese, Gujarati, and Bengali languages. As part of its pan-India expansion, it plans to add Tamil and Telugu to its on-call advisory services as well.

Beyond advisory and training, Balwaan also focuses on accessibility in terms of delivery and after-sales services. It has nine service centres across India, with plans to set up more.

“Balwaan’s competitive advantage is in its holistic approach to serving farmer’s needs. Existing international and local players offer products made for the world, but these are not all suitable for the Indian market and conditions—from a quality, serviceability, price and terrain perspective,” noted Vinit Rai, Managing Director, JM Financial Private Equity. 

The Indian agricultural machinery market is estimated at $16.73 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.5% to reach $25.15 billion by 2029, according to research by Mordor Intelligence. 

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The numbers game

Headquartered in Jaipur, Balwaan Krishi offers services in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, and Jammu and Kashmir. 

It outsources manufacturing to third-party vendors but handles the product design, colour coding, packaging, and quality control.

The startup clocked sales of Rs 60 crore in FY24 and expects to cross over Rs 100 crore in revenue by the end of the current financial year. It closed FY24 with 9-9.5% EBITDA with PAT profitability. 

Balwaan claims that its products are at a 40% discount to those sold by multinational brands and at a 20% premium to those sold by local sellers.

The startup raised Rs 40 crore from JM Financial in June as part of its Series A round. It had earlier raised $2 million in a pre-Series A round led by Caspian Leap for Agriculture Fund and angel investors including Deepak Agarwal (MD of Bikaji group), Rishab Jain (CFO of Bikaji), and Pulkit Bachhawat (Founder, Right Pillar Advisors).

The field ahead

The agricultural market in India is diverse and fragmented, which requires companies to solve problems in farming practices across multiple regions. While this fuels innovation and customisation, it also complicates the process of product standardisation and scaling. Moreover, companies like Balwaan Krishi, also need to tap traditional farmers who are not inclined towards capex investments and lack digital literacy, believes Rai.

While Balwaan Krishi primarily focuses on pre-harvest tools, it plans to launch post-harvest tools from next year.

The company is looking to clock 2X growth in terms of revenue over the next five years. It is also in the process of enabling its products with Internet of Things (IoT) systems to ensure farmers can track and use machines efficiently using a predictive maintenance system.