Arya.ag, described as India’s largest integrated agricultural warehousing and grains commerce platform, is bringing crop-collateral records on-chain through a dedicated Avalanche Layer 1 network, developed with Finternet Labs. The initiative covers records for grain deposits, electronic warehouse receipts, collateralisation and loan status, aiming to make agricultural lending more transparent and easier for banks to verify.
The company holds roughly $2 billion worth of agricultural commodities across its warehouse network. That figure represents stored crops potentially available as collateral, rather than $2 billion of loans already tokenised on-chain. Arya.ag facilitates about $1.3 billion in agricultural loans annually, while its lending subsidiary Aryadhan directly disburses around $230 million. Three major banks are expected to participate in the blockchain network, though their identities have not yet been disclosed.
In warehouse-receipt financing, farmers deposit produce in a registered warehouse and receive an electronic negotiable warehouse receipt, or e-NWR, proving ownership of the stored commodity. That receipt can then be pledged to a lender as collateral. The new system places deposit information, warehouse receipts, collateral and loan status on a shared ledger, allowing authorised lenders to verify whether crops exist, who controls the receipt, and whether the collateral has already been pledged elsewhere.
Finternet Labs plans to extend the model through composite tokens, combining information about the farmer, the commodity and potentially insurance coverage into a verifiable digital object. The companies stress that the objective is not to turn sacks of grain into freely traded cryptocurrencies, but to create a digital representation of financial rights and records surrounding physical agricultural commodities.
The project builds on work announced by Finternet Labs and Avalanche in February, when the companies identified about $2 billion of agricultural assets as an initial tokenisation opportunity. Finternet’s model draws on ideas developed by Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani and former Bank for International Settlements general manager Agustín Carstens. It also aligns with India’s push to expand warehouse-receipt financing, including a INR 1,000 crore Credit Guarantee Scheme for e-NWR based pledge financing launched in December 2024.
Blockchain does not eliminate credit risk: banks must still assess commodity prices, crop quality, insurance, borrowers and warehouse reliability. Tokenisation also does not guarantee lower interest rates or faster loan approval. Its potential advantage is making collateral records easier for multiple authorised institutions to verify and reconcile.
