In a country where agriculture forms the backbone of the economy, ONO is emerging as a trailblazer dedicated to transforming the agri-value chain through cutting-edge technology and data-centric solutions. Founded by Rama Rao Kancharapu to address critical inefficiencies within India’s agricultural ecosystem, ONO leverages digital innovation to empower farmers, traders, and commission agents.
After extensively travelling across India and studying the operational dynamics of over 675 APMCs and MANDIs, the ONO team identified key pain points such as information asymmetry, unreliable transactional data, and supply-demand mismatches. With its comprehensive suite of products—ONO CLICK, ONO MANDI, ONO CASH, and ONO CONNECT—ONO offers a groundbreaking approach to market intelligence, seamless trading, and accessible formal credit, paving the way for a more transparent, efficient, and prosperous agricultural sector. Join us as we delve into the journey of ONO and discover how this innovative startup is making waves and driving economic growth in India’s heartland.
Here are the snippets from the conversation with Mr Rama Rao Kancharapu, who has transformed the industry and brought a revolution in agriculture.
You mentioned that your desire to enter the entrepreneurial world goes back to your early career days, where you were instrumental in building automated and data-intensive solutions to eliminate inefficiencies and improve quality of life. Can you share more about what inspired you to start ONO and the fundamental problems you identified within the agriculture ecosystem that you wanted to address through your venture?
After 14+ years of professional experience in the USA, I have returned to India for good. I have been closely watching the Indian startup ecosystem and the progress of digital transformation. In 2021, Q3 moved back to India and started travelling across the country, especially visiting various APMCs / MANDIs. The impact created by India’s digital stack, like Aadhar, UPI, and eKYC, is a motivating factor for transforming into this agricultural domain. Given the late adoption of technology and data democratisation, we saw this as an opportunity to create value.
Team ONO visited more than 675 APMCs / MANDIs in India to gain insights into the challenges faced by farmers, commission agents, traders, transporters, buyers, and lenders, among other participants in the agri-value chain. Information asymmetry, which causes inefficiencies and price swings; a lack of reliable transactional data, which restricts access to formal credit; and supply-and-demand mismatch and lack of transparency, which drive trust issues throughout the supply chain, are the three main issues of today’s agriculture.
You’ve highlighted that ONO has developed a distinctive business model that leverages data and technology to address the specific needs of stakeholders in the agriculture value chain. Can you elaborate on the unique aspects of your business model and how it utilises data-centric mechanisms and technological innovations to tackle challenges such as information asymmetry, lack of reliable transactional data, and supply-demand mismatches plaguing the agriculture sector?
Before ONO, At Mandis – Commission Agents / Trades maintained all books of accounts (Invoices, Ledgers, Payments, Collections, Expenses and Advances) through manual bill books and ledgers. Two issues with this approach are:
1) Tedious and error-prone
2) Creating colossal supply and demand gaps, price fluctuations and lack of access to formal credit.
After ONO, digitising this flow (books of accounts) is helping them democratically see arrival quantities, market price intelligence, timely collections and payments, and improved stakeholder relationships. In addition, now all digital Mandis can avail of timely formal unsecured credit from their fingertips.
You’ve mentioned that ONO has developed a suite of products and solutions, such as ONO CLICK, ONO MANDI, ONO CASH and ONO CONNECT, to cater to the specific needs of different stakeholders. Can you provide a more detailed overview of these offerings and explain how they address critical pain points like timely access to formal credit, price intelligence, market discovery, and supply-demand visibility, which have historically hindered the growth and efficiency of the agriculture sector?
ONO CLICK – MANDI DIGITIZATION PLATFORM
APMC / MANDI SaaS platform for commission agents and traders that offers price and market intelligence, invoices, payments, collections, and digitisation of APMC / MANDI operations.
ONO MANDI – MANDI TO MANDI TRADE PLATFORM
A mid-mile trading platform for traders. It enables supply and demand visibility, price intelligence, market discovery and seamless connectivity among APMCs / MANDIs.
ONO CASH – NEO-LENDING PLATFORM
Neo-Lending is a platform for farmers, commission agents, and traders. It offers timely access to formal finance through invoice discounting, working capital loans, and farmer advances.
ONO CONNECT – FARMER PLATFORM
Crop Price and Mandi is a discovery platform for farmers. It allows users to locate neighbouring APMCs / Mandis and offers real-time, accurate crop prices across Mandis.
You’ve highlighted that ONO’s customer-first approach and focus on empowering all critical stakeholders at APMCs/MANDIs, rather than bypassing them, is a key differentiator for your company. Can you elaborate on how this customer-centric philosophy has shaped your product development, engagement, and partnership strategies? Additionally, can you share insights into how your pan-India network and collaborations with various stakeholders have helped build reliable and mutually beneficial relationships across the agriculture ecosystem?
In our business model, we have embedded a dedicated full-time MANDI CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGER at each MANDI who will stay with our partners daily. This has helped us build strong relationships, provide timely access to customer queries/enquiries, and provide continued business consultation for all our partners in MANDI.
Prior ONO: Typically, Mandi Mandi trade and price discovery happens through a closed network of a few trades at Source Mandis and vice versa (A few traders at Destination Mandis). Beyond that, traders won’t have visibility of prices, quality and varieties of the crops available in the market. In addition, traders have to make long-distance physical visits now and then to address disputes or credit defaults and make new connections, which has been a hectic and cost-intensive process.
With ONO: Now, traders can find a vast network of source and destination traders and various Mandis and their daily price intelligence from their fingertips. Our proprietary vetting process ensures credible trader discovery and complete assistance on credit recovery and quality for both source traders and destination traders, respectively. In addition, based on the trade behaviours with ONO, traders can now avail themselves of unsecured working capital loans and trade advances to increase their business.
What are your plans for expanding ONO’s geographic reach and developing new products and solutions as you look ahead? How do you envision ONO contributing to the overall growth and transformation of the agriculture sector in India, and what role do you see the company playing in empowering farmers and other ecosystem players to achieve greater economic prosperity?
Our long-term vision is to enable economic growth opportunities for farmers and ecosystem players like Traders and Commission Agents. As part of this mission, we are on the right track to connect farmers with better destinations where the price realisation will be more timely sale as well. In the next 2-3 years, we aim to reach 1000+ Mandis with 5M+ farmers.
For more information about ONO, visit their website: https://ono.ag/all-products
