The rationale behind this study is to test the apathy of the rural youth to engage in agriculture as their profession. This research was conducted across five universities in eastern India on a sample of 345 postgraduate students to analyse their agri-entrepreneurship intent and the determinants of agri-entrepreneurship. The findings of the study show a significant positive correlation among the variables of agri-entrepreneurship intent and career planning and agri-entrepreneurship intent and entrepreneurial capabilities. Regression analysis reveals that career planning, entrepreneurship capabilities and family background (FB) in agriculture have a significant contribution as predictors of agri-entrepreneurship intent. Categorizing the respondents based on their career planning and entrepreneurship capability tendencies, the findings indicate that career planning and FB explain the growth of agri-entrepreneurship intent. This article will be of great value to educationists to carry out the pedagogical transformations and include career planning programmes and capacity-enhancing training in their curriculum for students. It will also be relevant to agri-business entities who explore growth opportunities in agri-allied sectors. © 2020 International Management Institute, New Delhi.