Aug 17, 2026: NABARD, in collaboration with the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (OPSA), has developed RSVC-AMRIT platform for rural innovation and technology transfer. AMRIT (Accelerated Medium for Rural Innovations and Technologies) is a digital backbone designed to strengthen the RuTAGe Smart Village Centre (RSVC) ecosystem and promote technology-led rural development. The portal was launched on 80th Independence Day by Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, in the presence of Dr. Shaji Krishnan V., Chairman, NABARD and representatives of various organisations and stakeholders.
Prof. Ajay Kumar Sood, described the launch of the RSVC AMRIT Platform as a significant step towards bridging the gap between India’s innovation ecosystem and the needs of rural communities. He highlighted that while the country possesses strong scientific and technological capabilities, the real challenge lies in ensuring that innovations reach farmers, rural entrepreneurs, and households at scale. He noted that RSVCs provide a structured mechanism for last-mile dissemination of validated technologies and startup solutions through NABARD’s extensive rural network.
Emphasising technology-led rural entrepreneurship, Prof. Sood stated that the AMRIT Platform would serve as the digital backbone of the RSVC ecosystem by enabling technology dissemination, collaboration, monitoring, impact assessment, and feedback from rural communities. He expressed confidence that the initiative would strengthen rural innovation, create livelihood opportunities, and accelerate inclusive and sustainable rural transformation.
In his address, Chairman, NABARD, Dr. Shaji Krishnan V., highlighted that India’s key challenge is not the lack of innovations, but bridging the gap between rural needs, technologies, validation mechanisms, implementation agencies, and finance. He described the AMRIT platform as an enabler of faster and more transparent technology adoption in rural areas. Emphasising the transformative potential of Artificial Intelligence, he noted that the platform would help rural communities identify suitable validated solutions while reducing information asymmetry. Highlighting the partnership between NABARD and the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, he stressed the need for convergence among research institutions, innovators, startups, government agencies, financial institutions, and community organisations. The Chairman further observed that the success of AMRIT and RSVCs should be measured by field-level adoption, livelihood enhancement, productivity gains, and benefits reaching farmers, women, youth, and rural entrepreneurs, contributing to the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
The RSVC initiative is facilitating the transfer of appropriate and affordable technologies from research institutions, innovators and startups to rural communities through local technology hubs at village level. Technologies relating to agriculture, rural enterprises, renewable energy, education, assistive technologies, water and sanitation and citizen services are being promoted under the initiative.
Earlier NABARD has entered a tripartite MoU with OPSA and NABFOUNDATION (a subsidiary of NABARD) and has established National Centre of Excellence on RSVCs. The RSVCs will be set up by NABARD through own assistance as well as in collaboration with various corporates under their CSR. NABFOUNDATION will serve as a key implementation partner for CSR-supported RSVC projects.