Empowering Rural India: Arvind Kumar ’s Vision for Inclusive Agricultural Innovation

Arvind Kumar, Director – Sales & Marketing at Jadhao Layland, shares insights from his remarkable journey in the agricultural manufacturing sector.

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With a career spanning over 35 years, Arvind Kumar has been a driving force in transforming India’s agricultural landscape—championing innovative solutions, empowering small farmers, and redefining mechanisation for a more sustainable and inclusive rural future. Having held top leadership positions at prestigious firms such as Escorts, Mahindra & Mahindra, SDF, LEMKEN, and Force Motors, he has been at the forefront of transforming mechanisation and digital innovation in agriculture.

Today, as Director – Sales & Marketing at Jadhao Layland, he continues to drive initiatives that make farm mechanisation more accessible, sustainable, and farmer-centric. In this candid conversation with Corporate World, Kumar discusses his journey, core leadership principles, and long-term vision for creating inclusive growth in rural ecosystems.

Q.   Give us an overview of your professional journey and the key milestones that shaped your career in the agricultural manufacturing sector?

I embarked on my professional journey in 1985 with HMT after completing my Mechanical Engineering from PEC, Chandigarh. Beginning as a design engineer in R&D, I worked on transmission systems and later established the CAD Centre—an early step towards technology-led transformation. A shift to sales and marketing after seven years became the turning point of my career, opening doors to leadership positions with industry leaders such as Escorts, Mahindra & Mahindra, SDF, LEMKEN, and Force Motors, where I rose from Area Manager to MD & CEO.

Over the last few decades, I have had the privilege of leading pioneering initiatives in the agri-machinery space, including setting up a manufacturing unit for LEMKEN and launching TRRINGO, India’s first organised farm equipment rental platform under M&M, which earned wide recognition and multiple national awards. In parallel, I have supported agri-tech innovation as an investor and mentor with Meratractor and Kanan Technologies, focusing on digital platforms and AI-driven autonomous solutions for farming.

My contributions have been honoured with several prestigious recognitions such as the IDC Digital Disruptor Award, ASSOCHAM Best Startup Award, Porter’s Prize, Flame Leadership Award, Most Talented Rural Marketing Professional (CMO Asia, 2015), and the Udyog Rattan Award by the Institute of Economic Studies.

Q.   What core values and leadership principles have guided you in driving organisational growth and innovation?

Integrity, innovation, and empowerment are the core values and leadership principles that guided me in driving growth & innovation. I believe that true organisational growth comes from combining a clear vision with a people-first approach, where teams are empowered to think boldly and execute with excellence. Throughout my career, I have embraced change—whether it was transitioning from R&D to sales, leading multinational corporations, or driving digital disruption through TRRINGO—guided by an entrepreneurial mindset and a passion for farmer-centric solutions.

I view leadership as the ability to inspire trust, build collaboration, and translate challenges into opportunities. By blending global best practices with local insights, I strive to deliver innovations that are not only technologically advanced but also socially impactful, ensuring long-term sustainability for the agricultural ecosystem. My commitment is to create value beyond business—for customers, communities, and the industry at large—while nurturing future leaders who will carry forward this culture of growth and innovation.

Q.   How do you align business operations, sales, and marketing to create a holistic growth strategy?

The success of any organisation lies in a customer-centric alignment where business operations, sales, and marketing reinforce one another to create a unified growth engine. By mapping the customer journey end-to-end, organisations can ensure operations focus on timely deliveries and after-market support, sales emphasises solution-based relationship building, and marketing drives impactful messaging and brand positioning.

A shift toward solution-based selling—where implements are presented as complete farm solutions rather than machines—helps communicate productivity gains, while educating customers on the concept of acquisition cost versus ownership cost builds trust, aids in product seeding, and strengthens brand loyalty.

Diverse geographical markets demand product customisation, requiring flexible manufacturing systems that can quickly adapt to regional variations. Here, predictive analytics and AI-driven demand forecasting play a vital role in aligning production schedules, while a unified CRM platform integrates dealer networks, sales performance, farmer profiling, and service touchpoints into a seamless system.

Beyond direct sales, innovative go-to-market models such as Farm Equipment-as-a-Service can make mechanisation more accessible to the 80% of small farmers for whom ownership remains a challenge. Simultaneously, building digital farmer communities through apps or WhatsApp groups provides agronomy guidance, financing support, and promotions, thereby deepening engagement while creating strong marketing pull and qualified leads for sales.

Ultimately, aligning all three functions under shared KPIs ensures that operations are not only efficient, sales are not only about closures, and marketing is not only about lead generation—but together, they drive customer acquisition, retention, and profitability, delivering a truly holistic growth strategy.

Q.   Your work has empowered farmers, dealers, and rural entrepreneurs—what impact do you feel proudest of in this journey?

The agriculture sector has long been entangled in challenges arising from excessive dependency on weather and the lack of access to knowledge-driven practices. Despite being aware that alternative crops could yield higher profits, many farmers continue to cultivate traditional staples like wheat and paddy—primarily due to high input costs, limited access to resources, and low risk-taking capacity. As a result, more than 80% of farmers in India remain within the small and marginal category, struggling with low income levels. This reality has also led to the next generation showing disinterest in farming, accelerating migration to urban areas in search of better livelihoods.

Against this backdrop, my professional journey has been deeply farmer-centric, driven by a commitment to empower them with affordable access to modern mechanisation and innovative solutions. One of the initiatives I take pride in is introducing high-technology equipment on a pay-per-use model, which gave small farmers access to machinery that would otherwise cost several lakhs to own. This model benefitted over 1,00,000 farmers across multiple states, helping them improve productivity without bearing heavy capital costs. Beyond mechanisation, I focused on strengthening farmer ecosystems by connecting them with Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs), where collective procurement reduced input costs by 15–20%, while access to warehousing services reduced post-harvest losses by nearly 10%. In some cases, farmers were also linked to food processing units, allowing them to capture additional value from their produce.

Looking back, the impact I feel proudest of is not just the introduction of new technologies or platforms, but the mindset shift I helped foster among farmers—from being passive cultivators to becoming empowered participants in a broader agri-value chain. Knowing that my work has contributed to enhancing livelihoods, improving incomes by 20–30% for many smallholders, retaining youth interest in farming, and building sustainable rural communities remains the most rewarding aspect of my journey.

Q.   How do you envision your legacy in shaping not just businesses but also rural communities?

I have always believed that the true measure of success lies in how one can shape not just businesses, but also the communities they serve. In agriculture especially, business and rural life are inseparably woven together—neither can thrive without uplifting the other. My journey has been guided by this conviction: that organisational growth must go hand in hand with farmer prosperity.

For me, building this bridge begins with a simple but powerful principle—understanding the farmer’s reality. It is not enough to manufacture a machine; we must design solutions that respond to their aspirations, challenges, and constraints. Regular engagement, listening to their pain points, and working on solutions that reduce costs, enhance productivity, and improve livelihoods creates a genuine win–win relationship.

Trust, I have learned, is the foundation of lasting impact. When every interaction brings value—whether through innovation, knowledge, or support—farmers begin to see you not as a salesperson, but as a partner in their progress. Over time, this bond of trust transforms organisations from being service providers into being enablers of rural empowerment.

As I reflect on my journey, I envision my legacy as one of integration—where business growth and farmer well-being are not competing goals, but complementary outcomes. If I have been able to make mechanisation more accessible, reduce the struggles of small and marginal farmers, and inspire younger generations to see farming as a dignified and viable future, then I consider that my greatest achievement. For me, the true legacy is not in the titles I have held, but in the lives touched, the trust earned, and the communities strengthened along the way.

Q.   As a strategic leader, what is your long-term vision for transforming rural ecosystems and enabling inclusive growth?

Agriculture continues to be the backbone of rural India, yet gaps in mechanisation, productivity, and market access restrict its true potential. The long-term vision is to create a sustainable, technology-driven, and inclusive rural ecosystem where farming becomes not just a means of survival but a profitable and dignified livelihood. This transformation begins with strengthening the entire agriculture value chain—from soil preparation to post-harvest management—by making mechanisation affordable and accessible. Farmers must be encouraged to adopt practices like residue management, where crop waste can be channelised into bio-energy units or composting, generating additional income and contributing positively to the environment.

To bridge the current imbalance of spending, where nearly 80% is allocated to tractors and only 20% to implements, we must create models that give farmers access to cost-effective implements and refurbished tractors at nearly half the price of new ones. Shared service models such as custom hiring centers and equipment banks will ensure that even small and marginal farmers can use advanced machinery. At the same time, technology-driven practices like precision farming, supported by sensors, AI, IoT, and drones, will help farmers optimise resources, reduce input costs, and maximise yields. This requires parallel investment in farmer training and digital literacy so that adoption becomes simple and impactful.

Equally important is strengthening market linkages by connecting farmers directly with e-mandis, farmer producer organisations, and processors to improve price realisation while reducing dependency on intermediaries. Local agro-processing units must be promoted to minimise wastage and create employment opportunities within rural communities. Alongside productivity and market reforms, emphasis must also be placed on sustainability through climate-smart agriculture, organic farming, and natural resource management, ensuring long-term soil fertility and water conservation.

Finally, inclusive growth must remain at the core of this vision. Empowering rural youth and women through entrepreneurship, skill development, and start-up incubation will unlock local innovation and generate employment. By mentoring and investing in agri start-ups that provide affordable and scalable solutions, we can bridge critical gaps in the ecosystem. Collectively, these measures will transform villages into self-reliant, resilient, and growth-driven ecosystems where every farmer participates in and benefits from India’s rural prosperity.