Anil Kumar SG
Anil is the Founder & Managing Director of Samunnati, India’s largest agri enterprise aiming to unlock the Trillion Dollar potential of Indian agriculture, with smallholder farmers as the focus. His passion is to build Samunnati as an open agri network that seamlessly connects diverse stakeholders across the value chain, powered by innovative tech-enabled interventions. Founded in 2014, Samunnati, an agri value chain enabler, currently works with 6500+ Farmer Collectives on the supply side and with 3500+ Agri Enterprises on the demand side. Samunnati, with a presence in more than 100 agri value chains spread over 28 States in India, has enabled over US $3.0 Bn of gross transaction value in its journey so far. As an eco-system player, Samunnati is playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of agriculture in the country, with a vision to positively impact 1 in every 4 farming households by 2027.
Anil is actively involved with the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare (MoAFW), where he serves as a member on an expert group formulating the National Policy on FPOs and on the working group tasked with finalizing modalities, including equity grants for older Farmer Producer Organizations (FPOs). In addition to these key roles, Anil is the Chair of the FICCI Taskforce on Agri Finance and a member of the FICCI Millets and Startups Taskforces, and is associated with the Madras Chamber of Commerce and Industry. His contributions extend to the CII’s National Council on Agriculture, CII – B20 Working Group and its Task Forces on Financial Inclusion for Economic
Empowerment, the Social Stock Exchange Advisory Committee (SSEAC), the Expert Panel for Agri Stack and a Charter Member of TiE Chennai.
Anil has received awards/recognitions from several forums, including the Best Social Entrepreneur in the Global Social Entrepreneurship Programme 2018; the TiE Impact Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2013; TiE Scale-Up Enterprise of the year 2019, Real Leaders Impact Award 2020 (ranked 83 in top 100); ET Social Enterprise Startup award in 2020 and Naanayam Vikatan Business Startup Champion Award for 2021 and 2025 Triple A Award by the Federation of Asian Institute of Management Alumni Associations Inc. (FAIM).
Anil has close to three decades of banking experience in the areas of Rural, Retail and Agri Banking. He started his career with Canara Bank and then moved to ICICI Bank. Prior to promoting Samunnati,
Anil, as a Co-Founder & Trustee of IFMR Trust, conceptualized, designed, developed and spearheaded a new model of delivery of financial services in remote rural areas. These stints have lent him a holistic understanding of the agri ecosystem surrounding Indian smallholder farmers. Anil holds a Masters in Management from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila. He also holds a Masters in Business Administration from Symbiosis Institute of Management, Pune and a graduate degree in Humanities from Osmania University, Hyderabad.
Anil has been a Heartfulness Practitioner since 1993 and is also a trainer.