Whrrl : facilitating agricultural finance through block-chain technology / Vidya Vemireddy, Shrey Deb, and Shweta Yadav.

9781071945025 :

London : Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, 2024.

1 online resource : illustrations.

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The Indian agricultural financial market is currently underdeveloped due to the perceived high risk associated with rural and agricultural sectors by the formal financial sector. Warehouse receipt financing (WHR financing) offers access to working capital by allowing loans against deposited goods, but it faces security and efficiency issues, including fraudulent activities. These issues have concerned banks and other stakeholders. The transaction processes are manual, time-consuming, and lack transparency. In this context, technological innovations have the potential to transform financial markets, reducing risks and transaction costs. Whrrl, a blockchain-based platform, aimed to address security and inefficiency issues in asset-backed lending, specifically in Warehouse Receipt Financing. It consists of a blockchain platform connecting warehouses and banks at the backend and a mobile app for farmers and traders to interact with warehouses and banks. The Indian government introduced regulatory changes in June 2020 to support farmers. This prompted Ashish Anand and his team at Whrrl to consider their future steps. Whrrl aspired to expand beyond geographical and sector-based boundaries and become a global solution for asset-backed lending, particularly in South East Asia for commodities like agricultural cash crops, metals, crude oil, and Africa for agricultural products. However, challenges included slower market development in India and lower margins in Indian agricultural warehouse financing compared to other types of financing. The policy changes in the agricultural market presented new opportunities for Whrrl to become a significant player in agricultural trading as a trading platform for agricultural produce. This shift would require resources and a shift in expertise from technology solutions for asset-backed lending to the operations of agricultural trading.

Sage Business Cases 2024 Annual Collection.

Books / Online

English

September 17, 2024