A mother-son duo turned a pandemic experience into a renewable energy marketplace that’s now powering 595+ villages across the country
By Punita Maheshwari
In 2020, as the pandemic hit and supply chains for farmers in villages and tier-3 areas faltered, their access to renewable energy became even more limited. A retired school administrator, Shobha Chanchlani, and her son, Vimal Panjwani, saw an opportunity to build something that would outlast the pandemic months.
Thanks to the thought and the talent returning home during the pandemic, AgriVijay was founded in June 2020 in Ajmer and Baramati.
Vimal is an engineer and MBA in Agribusiness from Symbiosis, Pune. He’d already worked at building agritech and social-impact ventures like AgriBolo, Ugaoo.com, Dharmalife, and Sistema.bio so when it came to starting one of his own, he knew exactly which lessons not to forget.
The aim was simple yet ambitious: make renewable energy practical for farmers.
AgriVijay is a full-service bridge between renewable-energy makers and rural buyers. From choosing to installing, AgriVijay is built to help farmers adopt and maintain clean-energy solutions. To support this, it built a curated marketplace for agri-tech and renewable energy products like solar pumps, solar dryers, biogas units, solar sewing machines, rice dehuskers, and more.
What truly sets a business apart and into the category of changemakers is what it does beyond just creating a product. AgriVijay does this exceptionally well.
How you ask?
Financially: Making clean energy affordable, the company offers EMIs, helps access subsidies, and partners with financial institutions to remove large upfront costs.
Digitally: Farmers can connect through an AI-enabled WhatsApp chatbot or regional call centres in local languages.
On the ground: They can also visit their nearest Renewable Energy Store—village-level outlets run by trained local entrepreneurs who earn 5–15% margins without maintaining any stock.
Jobs and entrepreneurship: The model helps local entrepreneurs, especially women and youth, start or grow their businesses with minimal investment. Each store showcases over 200 renewable and green energy products from 45+ trusted partners.
And the traceable impact: Every sale is tracked for energy generated, firewood saved, waste treated, and CO₂ reduced turning each transaction into a measurable environmental and economic gain.
Covering miles
Today, AgriVijay operates across 18+ states, 37+ districts, and 595+ villages. It has reached nearly 3 million farmers through outreach and directly served 10,350+ households, installing over 2,000 renewable energy systems.
The outcomes they claim are tangible: 1.24 lakh tonnes of CO₂ mitigated, 30 lakh kWh of clean energy generated, and ₹2.87 crore+ in additional savings and income for rural families. Some farmers save up to ₹1.5 lakh per year.
Testifying the numbers, there are real-time stories.
In Rajasthan’s Khanpura, a farmer eliminated diesel costs with a solar water pump that paid for itself in a year.
In Solapur, a woman farmer uses a solar dryer to reduce spoilage and reach export markets.
In Nashik, another saves ₹10,000–15,000 monthly with a solar rice dehusker.
And in Pune, a tailor runs her sewing business through power cuts with a solar sewing machine energy independence woven into daily life.
Plug and Play: What sets the marketplace apart
With no fat investments, AgriVijay’s Renewable Energy Stores are flipping the script for local retailers who are able to pocket 5-15 percent margin.
And here’s how they are able to do it: They start by actually listening, understanding what farmers need and then make making recommendations to their market places to gather the needs of the farmers. This happens with the help of a dedicated website, an AI-enabled WhatsApp chatbot, call centers in local languages, field sales, a technical team.
“This is something that maker AgriVijay different from other businesses,” Vimal mentions.
Worried about theft or a hailstorm wrecking your new equipment? AgriVijay has got free insurance for that. Long-term warranty? Check. Last-mile delivery in remote areas? Sorted. It’s a full-stack play making clean energy accessible and affordable where it matters most, while ticking every UN Sustainable Development Goal box.
And miles to go
AgriVijay’s model has attracted partnerships with UNDP, SELCO Foundation, Grameen Foundation, BAIF, and other development organizations. It has also signed a strategic MoU with Next2Sun and Wattkraft, two German firms pioneering agrivoltaic systems vertical solar panels that allow crops to grow beneath them.
The startup has raised ₹2.47 crore in pre-seed and seed rounds, including investment from ABIF (IIT Kharagpur) and ICICI Bank’s Joginder Singh Shekhawat through the MeitY Samriddh Accelerator Program.
The road ahead is about scale and expanding financing for small farmers and building a deeper network of trained technicians to support long-term maintenance.
But AgriVijay’s story already shows how renewable energy adoption in rural India doesn’t need to wait for policy alone. It can be built as a business backed with the right investors and an intention of resource building during the slightly testing times.
And hence, AgriVijay was one of the finalist at the Sankalp Bharat Awards Series.
Following #SankalpChangemakers? Stay tuned for more stories of innovation building sustainable India.
