100+ Start-ups Power India's Smart Village Revolution
- 100+ Indian start-ups are collaborating under VoICE to build smart villages across India.
- Satnavari in Maharashtra is India’s first smart village, offering AI farming, digital connectivity, healthcare, and smart infrastructure.
- 3,500 villages targeted by 2030, using indigenous technology and minimal fees under government schemes.
A consortium of over 100 Indian start-ups and companies is working together to create smart villages across the country. Under the banner of Voice of Indian Communication Technology Enterprises (VoICE), this group aims to bring modern technology and sustainable solutions to rural India by partnering with various government schemes.
The initiative has already taken shape in Satnavari, Maharashtra, which has become India’s first smart village. Here, 24 companies from VoICE have joined hands to offer services such as smart street lighting, rural healthcare, drone-based pesticide spraying, surveillance, smart cattle rearing, and digital connectivity.
Keerthi Lal, Founder of EarthTwin, a start-up incubated at IIT-Delhi, said, “The Smart Intelligent Village is a clear example of how 100% indigenous technology can help achieve the vision of Atmanirbhar Bharat and Viksit Bharat. Connectivity is the backbone of this project, and we are ensuring villages are future-ready”.
The smart village project was launched in Nagpur by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who announced plans to transform 10 villages in every taluka 3,500 villages in the first phase by 2030. The consortium is already in talks with multiple state governments to replicate the Satnavari model across the country. With over 6.5 lakh villages in India, the opportunity for scaling up is massive.
EarthTwin has developed a climate-smart agriculture platform using India’s only sustainability ERP software. Through its mobile app, it provides natural farming support and AI-based crop recommendations to farmers. Lal added that with the government announcing carbon credits for agriculture, farmers can also access these benefits through the platform.
Another key player, Insta ICT Solutions, is supporting the project by setting up public Wi-Fi hotspots at gram panchayats to extend BharatNet connectivity of up to 100 Mbps. “Through these hotspots, we are enabling e-governance, easy information access, and better income opportunities. The best part is that everything is being done with indigenous technology”, said Yeshwant Shinde, Co-founder and CEO of Insta ICT Solutions.
On revenue models, Lal and Shinde explained that the consortium aligns with various government schemes and charges villagers only a minimal service fee. For example, at the healthcare centres, villagers pay a small registration fee for on-the-spot testing of 120+ vital health parameters, including blood pressure, ECG, and cardiac markers.
With strong collaboration, technology, and government support, India’s smart village movement is paving the way for digitally empowered, self-reliant rural communities.
