Within a period of six months, Bharat Intelligence, a farmer-backed agritech company, has transformed informal agricultural labour into structured, predictable work across 10,000 acres of vineyard operations. At least 2,000 tribal agricultural workers have earned over Rs 500 in average net income for each day worked through its Phala platform in its first six months of operations.
Co-owned by over 22,500 farmers, the platform provides farmers with reliable execution on time-sensitive crop operations while enabling rural workers to access planned work and stable, dignified incomes.
Through Phala, the company has aggregated labour demand across Nashik’s grape belt, helping tribal workers access a more reliable work pipeline. As a result, these tribals, many of whom migrate seasonally, are no longer dependent on informal networks for work nor is there any uncertainty regarding wages or any last-minute farm calls.
Bharat Intelligence organises farm work from end to end: identifying workers, verifying their details, mapping their skills, training them, assigning them to farms, tracking work and enabling timely payments. For workers, this means advance visibility of work, daily wage clarity, uniforms, identity cards, proof of work and a growing record of their skills.
Phala is designed to make workers’ seasonal migration more organised, with clearer work schedules, better deployment planning and stronger income visibility.
Azhaan Merchant, co-founder and CEO, Bharat Intelligence, feels, “India’s 140 million agricultural labourers deserve more than informal, uncertain work. Our commitment is to build a better way of organising farm work so they get planned jobs, fair earnings, recognised identity and dignity.”
The company aims for “the safety and fair share of those who labour, moving beyond basic welfare to treat workers as skilled professionals.
Gourav Sanghai, “co-founder and CTO, Bharat Intelligence, is of the opinion that “Rural labour now needs its own operating layer,” and Bharat Intelligence aims “to make agricultural work in Bharat reliable for farmers and dignified for workers, at scale.”
While farmers gain access to trained labour during time-sensitive crop operations such as pruning, canopy management and harvesting, workers are able to enjoy more planned, recognised and reliable employment.
The platform has expanded beyond Nashik into Pune and Jalgaon, and has recently launched its second crop vertical in banana. Over the next decade, the company aims to organise work opportunities for one million rural workers across multiple crops and districts.