India, Jan. 16 -- Dr Verghese Kurien once averred that India's economic rise would not come from capital alone, but from a blend of the experience of its rural people and the skill of its trained professionals. The words of wisdom from the man known as the Milkman of India and the person behind the 'White Revolution' echoed louder than whispers to Prasanna Rao and formed the intellectual foundation for Arya.ag

The former banker went on to set up agritech startup Arya.ag in 2013 as a post-harvest platform that today runs a network of over 12,000 warehouses, aggregating and storing $3 Bn of grains a year, while enabling disbursement of over $1.5 Bn in loans, according to the company.

"Even today, repeating those lines of Kurien gives me g...