Innovation In The Shivalik Valley

How Chandigarh is fast emerging as north India’s hub for high-tech

- Rajiv Singh

For Taranjeet Singh Bhamra, an alumnus of IIT-Kharagpur and IIM-Calcutta, the choice was either tech capital Bengaluru or political capital Delhi. After stints in Europe, the Middle East and Africa as a consulting and data analytics professional for little under a decade, Bhamra decided to come back to India in 2015 to turn entrepreneur. Destiny, though, had scripted a different story for the Kharagpur-born lad.

Bhamra chanced upon Chandigarh, also known as ‘The City Beautiful’, in the same year on a trip with his wife. A few things he saw there made him ditch the idea of starting up in Bengaluru and Delhi: A near-perfect work-life balance, an abundance of high-quality research and academic bodies churning out skilled talent, a nascent startup culture and a voracious appetite for growth.

In September 2016, Bhamra cofounded AgNext, an agri-analytics startup, with Mrigank Sharad and Deepak Jaiswal. Backed by investors such as Omnivore Capital and Kalaari, AgNext provides solutions to improve productivity and profitability of growers and food processors. From a headcount of 20 in the first year, AgNext swelled four times by May this year, and has provided services to over 4 lakh farmers.