NABARD Announces Winners of National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge

SatSure Analytics, EXPERIQS and VARSAPRADAYA recognised for developing climate-risk intelligence solutions to support rural India

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), with support from the Gates Foundation and Dalberg Advisors, has announced the winners of the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge, a national initiative aimed at advancing DiCRA as a Digital Public Infrastructure for rural climate resilience.

The challenge sought to bring together India's scientific, academic and innovation ecosystem to develop climate hazard forecasting models and decision-support applications for agriculture, rural finance, insurance and public planning. The winning teams were felicitated during NABARD Foundation Day on July 12, 2026.

Winners of the Innovation Challenge

The top three winners are:

1. SatSure Analytics India Private Limited – First Prize
2. EXPERIQS Private Limited – Second Prize
3. VARSAPRADAYA Private Limited – Third Prize

Over 150 Entries Evaluated Through Multi-Stage Process

According to NABARD, the competition received more than 150 applications from startups, academic institutions, research organisations and private-sector innovators.

Following an initial screening:

• 20 teams were shortlisted to develop prototypes with guidance from a Technical Advisory Group.
• 11 teams advanced to the final round.

The finalists presented their solutions before a jury comprising experts in climate science, digital public infrastructure, agriculture, finance and public policy from institutions including:

• Reserve Bank of India (RBI)
• NABARD
• World Bank
• ThinkAg
• Gates Foundation
• India Meteorological Department (IMD)

The entries were evaluated on:

• Solution coherence
• Technical depth
• Usability
• Integration readiness
• Artificial intelligence and machine learning approach
• Team capability
• Potential to support real-world decision-making

NABARD Chairman's Statement

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Shaji Krishnan V., Chairman, NABARD, said:

“Climate change is no longer a distant risk - it is already influencing how our farmers cultivate, how banks assess rural credit and how public institutions plan for the future. Through the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge, NABARD sought to bring India’s best scientific and entrepreneurial minds together to convert climate data into practical, decision-ready solutions. The overwhelming response demonstrates that India has both the talent and the technology to build a new generation of climate intelligence for rural India. Our endeavour now is to take the most promising innovations beyond the Challenge and explore how they can strengthen DiCRA and support more resilient decisions at the farm, financial institution and policy levels.”

Gates Foundation Comments

Commenting on the initiative, the Country Director, Gates Foundation, said:

“The National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge demonstrates the power of open innovation to translate climate data into practical decision-support tools for agriculture and rural finance. We are pleased to support NABARD’s efforts to strengthen DiCRA as shared digital infrastructure for climate-resilient rural development.”

Dalberg Advisors' Statement

Shri Jagjeet Sareen, Partner and India Head, Dalberg Advisors, said:

“The Climate Stack Innovation Challenge was based on a simple but important idea: India has the data, the talent and institutional capacity to build climate intelligence that is genuinely useful for agricultural decision-making. The Challenge provided a structured process to bring these capabilities together, and we are grateful for the Gates Foundation’s support in helping shape and advance this effort. The quality of submissions shows that India’s research and innovation ecosystem is ready to contribute meaningfully to climate-resilient rural development.”

Winning Solutions

SatSure Analytics India Private Limited

The first-prize winner developed a Composite Climate Vulnerability Index that assigns village-level climate risk scores by combining:

• Climate exposure
• Sensitivity
• Adaptive capacity

The solution uses satellite and climate datasets to generate dynamic village-level risk scores that can support farmer advisories, financial-sector portfolio assessment and public planning.

EXPERIQS Private Limited

The second-prize winner developed a block-level drought intelligence platform that combines drought indices, vegetation indicators and climate projections.

According to NABARD, the platform converts climate intelligence into:

• Crop-cycle impact assessments
• Farmer financial stress indicators
• API-enabled outputs for farmers, Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), rural lenders, insurers and public agencies

VARSAPRADAYA Private Limited

The third-prize winner developed a 3 km, 20-year hazard scoring and advisory engine built on DiCRA.

The solution integrates climate projections, satellite data and field intelligence to support:

• Irrigation scheduling
• Crop-risk alerts
• Rural credit assessment
• Afforestation planning
• Village-level vulnerability mapping