To help fund India's first blockchain project for providing financial services to farmers in need throughout the country, a premier consumer financial services company named Synchrony has signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the University of Hyderabad.

When it comes to monitoring asset utilization in remote villages, Farmers in India can face challenges in accessing funds due to factors such as income uncertainty and problems. To simplify the exchange of information and payments, Synchrony said, this blockchain project can bring all the parties together – from farmers to financing experts in the supply chain together. 

"Through our partnership with the University of Hyderabad, we are helping to push the technology boundaries to help farmers reach their financial goals," said Andy Ponneri, Senior Vice President and Business Leader, Synchrony India.

Professor Appa Rao, Vice-Chancellor, University of Hyderabad, welcomed the university's first CSR funded project. "Such innovative models will help in bridging the gap between industry and academic institutions. University of Hyderabad thanks Synchrony for coming forward and paving the way to CSR based research projects in the University of Hyderabad," he said.

The main motive of the project would be to find ways on how technology can reduce the costs for marginal farmers who cannot access loans from formal channels of lending. Hence to ensure better monitoring of asset utilization, Blockchain aims to bridge the gap by reducing information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers.