RML AgTech Pvt. Ltd., formerly known as Reuters Market Light is a business to provide Technology & Data Analytics Solutions to farmers and the agriculture value chain. The service is Decision Support Technology designed to provide farmers with personalised agricultural data analytics from pre-sowing to post-harvest stages through App earlier SMS on their mobile phones in their local language supported through call centres and on ground intervention. About 3.4 million Indian farmers from an estimated 60,000 villages have used this service across 18 states. Through sharing among farmers, it is estimated to have reached 15-20 million farmers. RML AgTech covers over 450crop and crop varieties and more than 1300 markets. With this service, individual farmers gained up to INR 200,000 of additional profits, and savings of nearly INR 400,000, marking a significant return on their investment.
History
began with a one-page idea of a Reuters employee to use mobile solutions to address the state of farmers around the developing world. Initial research suggested that farmers lacked relevant, reliable, timely and consistent information and commerce support to improve their productivity, reduce their crop losses and realize fair prices for their produce. One major insight was that this deficiency must be addressed at an individual farmer basis. Their type of crop, soil, location, irrigation type, language and even the stage of the crop cycle must all be taken into consideration. Thomson Reuters incubated RML as an internal start-up as part of its global innovation program. Following nearly 18 months of market research, user-led prototyping, and market trials, RML AgTech was officially launched in October 1, 2007, in Maharashtra by Sharad Pawar, the unionminister of agriculture of India followed by launch in Punjab in 2008 by Mr. Prakash Badal, state's Chief Minister. After reaching a million users pan-India on its multi-lingual highly personalized mobile product, the business was spun-out to accelerate its commercial growth with equity funding by Thomson Reuters and IvyCap Ventures Advisors Private Limited, a venture capital fund management company. IvyCap, which is backed by the IIT Alumni Network, was the lead investor in RML AgTech with Thomson Reuters remaining as a shareholder and partner in the newly formed RML AgTech Pvt Ltd. The company evolved from a phone-led product to an android app for the farmers in addition to launching data and commerce-support products for enterprises connected with agri value chain such as banks and agri-input and sourcing companies. RML also worked with state and central governments and partnered with other businesses in the telcom business such as Nokia, Idea, Airtel and Vodafone. The company was renamed FarmBee in 2018.
