From transforming farm data in India to powering global agribusiness, Vinay Nair reveals how KhetiBuddy’s Verdnt is redefining digital agriculture, traceability, and the future of farm technology. The global agritech market is entering a high-growth phase as agriculture increasingly adopts AI, IoT, data analytics, automation, and digital supply-chain solutions. The global agritech market is projected to grow from$38.56 billion in 2026 to $58.79 billion by 2030, registering a CAGR of 11.1%. In India, the agritech market was approximately $974 million in 2025 and is projected to reach$2.52 billion by 2034, growing at a CAGR of 10.59% during 2026–2034. The future of agritech is expected to be driven byAI-powered analytics, farm-level traceability, digital agriculture platforms, sustainability reporting, supply-chain transparency, and interoperability with public digital infrastructure. For agribusinesses, the ability to collect, standardize, and use farm-level data is becoming increasingly important as sustainability and traceability requirements grow. Against this backdrop,Vinay Nair, Co-Founder & CEO, KhetiBuddy, discusses how the company is taking its farm-data technology from India to international markets through its newVerdntbrand. He explains the thinking behind the separate brand, the challenges of farm-data integration, changing technology adoption among smallholder farmers, Bharat-VISTAAR, government partnerships, and the growing importance of food traceability. Vinay Nair:It was not a branding decision. It was an honesty decision. KhetiBuddy carries six years of India-specific context, relationships, and trust. Taking that name into a boardroom in the Netherlands or Canada and asking them to evaluate it as anenterprise SaaS platformwould have created unnecessary noise. International buyers are making procurement decisions, not learning about Indian agtech. Verdnt is the platform name we use internationally because it speaks to what the product does:a data backbone that connects farm operations to enterprise supply chain and sustainability reporting. The underlying technology is the same. The name simply removes the friction of context that the buyer should not have to carry. Vinay Nair:The problem is the same. The entry point is completely different. In Maharashtra, you are typically walking into a conversation about operational efficiency: can you help us track what is happening on contracted farms, reduce input wastage, improve yield predictability? The business case is built around cost and control. In the Netherlands or Canada, the conversation usually starts with compliance. EU deforestation regulations, sustainability disclosures to institutional buyers, carbon traceability requirements from retail chains. The buyer already understands that they need a data layer. They are asking whether you can deliver it at the quality and integration depth they need. The sales cycle is longer internationally but the qualification is faster becaus
