India: Startups are helping city buyers invest in farm plots, agro-forests

The new farm management companies help you make the switch to the countryside, right from sorting out the paperwork, lowering risks to managing the property.

By Aishwarya Iyer
Hindustan Times
Jan 25, 2020

Excerpt:

As realty prices rise in the cities, there is growing interest in farmland on the edges of metropolitan areas. Some want it so they can do their own organic farming, others use it as a second home and rent it out to holidays as a means of income, still others just want an affordable investment, and some are using the land to plan their retirement homes.

Farmland is typically more affordable. And with the promise that metropolitan regions will grow, and make your investment worth exponentially more, there are start-ups now offering to help you make the switch to farmland, from the paperwork to the managing of the plot and eventual sale.

It is not an easy switch to make, going from urban to rurban or rural. Acquiring farmland alone can take years, and in some states is not really an option unless you can show that you have an agricultural background.

“The rules relating to the owning of agricultural land differ from state to state,” says Manish Ramjiyani, managing committee member of the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India – Maharashtra Chamber of Housing Industry (CREDAI-MCHI).

Complete story here.