NABARD announces winners of climate innovation challenge

The Story in Brief

The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), backed by the Gates Foundation and Dalberg Advisors, has named the winners of the National Climate Stack Innovation Challenge to advance Data in Climate Resilient Agriculture (DiCRA) as digital public infrastructure. SatSure Analytics India Pvt Ltd won first place for its composite climate vulnerability index that scores villages on climate risk by combining exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity using satellite and climate datasets to support farmer advisories and financial-sector planning. Experiqs Pvt Ltd took second prize for a block-level drought intelligence platform that integrates drought indices and vegetation signals to produce crop-cycle impact assessments and farmer financial stress signals. Varsapradaya Pvt Ltd secured third place for a 3-km resolution, 20-year hazard scoring and advisory engine that combines climate projections and satellite data to aid irrigation scheduling, crop-risk alerts and rural credit assessment. Over 150 applications were received, with 20 teams shortlisted to develop prototypes under guidance from a Technical Advisory Group, and 11 teams presenting final solutions before an expert jury from institutions including the RBI, NABARD, the World Bank and the India Meteorological Department.