Farm work is labour-intensive, and fewer young people want to do it. On small plots, farmers often need different machines for different jobs. With diesel expensive, many continue to depend on manual labour and bullocks.

Mumbai-based Balisto Agritech, founded in 2024, is addressing this with the Balisto 130 Pro, an electric, multi-purpose farm machine. Designed to work across the crop cycle, it reduces the need for farmers to rely on a combination of labour, bullocks, and multiple diesel-powered machines.

The startup was founded by IIT Bombay alumni Aishwarya Ramakrishnan and Kedar Gokhale, who later worked together at Boston Consulting Group.

Ramakrishnan, who also has an MBA from Harvard Business School, worked at the Mahindra Group, first in the Chairman’s Office and later setting up the group’s agritech venture, Krish-e. Gokhale ran his own agritech startup, Truce, before becoming vice president of operations at Swiggy, where he led its delivery fleet across India.

Balisto took 18 to 20 months to move from prototype to commercial rollout. Along the way, it sold an initial batch to paying farmers to gather feedback.

The machine runs on detachable batteries and can be operated through an electric dashboard or by remote control. At its centre is a smart machine control unit running firmware developed by the company. It manages the battery and three motors, one for each wheel and another for the rotary unit at the back.

The separate motors allow the unit to correct the machine as it moves.

"It tells the machine, 'Hey, you're swerving to the right, come back to a straight line,' or ‘slow down a little bit’," Ramakrishnan explains.

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