Lessons from AgriFin Study Tour in India

This is part of AgriFin’s collection of resources which include brief technical notes, lessons learned reports, and articles examining a broad range of topics related to sustainable agricultural finance.

This document provides key lessons learned from the study tour to visit HDFC Bank and Mahindra Finance in Jaipur, India. Organized jointly with B-A-LAMP of the Basix Group, the event brought AgriFin's financial institution partners from Africa and Asia and senior World Bank experts to India to learn about innovations in financing smallholder agriculture. During the knowledge exchange, Indian banking and microfinance professionals spoke about the challenges of sustainably serving small-scale agriculture and, in particular, addressing the non-financial technical needs of smallholders. Particularly noteworthy were the lessons learned on the importance of product cross selling, commercial tie-ups with input suppliers and other retailers, and ‘knowing your client’ as a means of reducing transaction costs and managing risks.