40 startups showcase innovations at agri varsity’s entrepreneurship exhibition in Hisar

Vice-Chancellor of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (HAU), BR Kamboj, inaugurated a startup-based exhibition at the university on Thursday.

During the event, he said that agriculture offers immense opportunities for young entrepreneurs, particularly in areas such as value addition, agri-processing, drones, artificial intelligence and smart farming.

The exhibition was organised by the university’s Agri Business Incubation Centre (ABIC) at the College of Basic Sciences and Humanities to mark World Entrepreneurship Day. Around 40 startups showcased their products and innovations at the exhibition.

Kamboj said India was rapidly emerging as a major hub for startups and innovation, and HAU had an important role to play in this transformation. He said entrepreneurship was not merely about starting businesses but also about creating employment, encouraging innovation and contributing to a stronger and self-reliant economy. “It is important to encourage young people not merely to look for jobs but to become job creators,” he said.

The VC said agriculture offered opportunities across the entire value chain — from production and processing to value addition, storage and marketing — besides newer fields such as drones, artificial intelligence, sensor-based farming and organic and environment-friendly technologies.

The VC said the university’s responsibility extended beyond imparting academic knowledge and included preparing students for innovation, skill development and entrepreneurship. He urged students to understand the problems actually faced by farmers and develop commercially viable solutions around them.

Research Director Rajbir Garg said aspiring entrepreneurs could approach ABIC for guidance and support to turn new ideas into startups or scale up existing ventures. Applications for the startup programme are currently open, with the deadline set for September 10, he said. Details regarding eligibility and the application process are available on the university website, he added.

ABIC Director Rajesh Gera said HAU’s incubation centre was among the better-performing centres in North India. He said a good idea alone was not enough to make a startup successful. “Technology, market demand, a viable business model, financial management and effective marketing are equally important,” he said, adding that ABIC provided innovators and startups with expert guidance on these aspects.

Entrepreneurs, including Ankit Ahlawat from Dujana village in Jhajjar district, who claims to be the only manufacturer of chicken protein as a replacement for whey protein in the country, Deepika Ahlawat, Pradeep Duhan and Jitendra Kumar, also shared their startup experiences during the event.

THE TRIBUNE, India’s oldest, daily English-language newspaper, was first published on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan), and save for 40 days in the immediate aftermath of Partition, has come out every day over the last 145 years. THE TRIBUNE was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist of the time. The newspaper is run by a five-member Trust, which is chaired by Shri N N Vohra, former Governor of J&K State (2008-2018); as well as Justice S S Sodhi, former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court; Shri Gurbachan Jagat, former Governor of Manipur; Lt Gen. Shamsher Singh Mehta, former Western Army Commander; Shri Paramjit Singh Patwalia, Senior Advocate in the Supreme Court. THE TRIBUNE is free, objective, and independent. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language, are the hallmarks of the paper. The Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).

Remembering Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia