Meet This MBA Dropout Who is Using Grafting Technology to Grow North India’s First Disease-Resistant Vegetables, Clocked ₹90 Lakh in Revenue

At a time when Punjab’s youth are leaving the state to go abroad in pursuit of higher education and professional opportunities, 38-year-old MBA dropout Rajeev Bhaskar is keen to develop and share knowledge about high-quality planting material and its technical applications with farmers, helping them enhance their household income.

In November 2022, Rajeev established Aruj Nursery with a mission to cultivate vegetables through grafting techniques that resist diseases and pests while also enhancing yield, all without the use of chemicals.

“In traditional farming, if a disease like bacterial wilt or nematodes appears, it can wipe out the entire field, and the farmer can do nothing about it. To reduce this risk, we have chosen grafting techniques to cultivate vegetables,”Rajeev Bhaskar tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Aruj Nursery is spread across 3.5 acres of land in the village of Sehjowal, near Nangal, in the Rupnagar district of Punjab. Rajeev claims it is North India’s first grafted vegetable nursery.

The farm was founded to cater to the growing needs of farmers by enhancing productivity without compromising the quality of cultivation, while also helping crops withstand climate change, which frequently damages agriculture in northern India.

Co-founded with two partners, Dr B. K. Sharma and his son, Dr Ahsas Sharma, the farm aims to become India’s leading producer of vegetables and plants using non-traditional techniques.

About the Owner of Aruj Nursery, Rajeev Bhaskar

Born and raised in the agricultural state of Punjab, Rajeev completed his undergraduate studies in B.Sc. Horticulture from GB Pant University, Uttarakhand, in 2013. 

Later that year, he joined the organisation VNR Seeds in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, as a sales and marketing executive, where he was responsible for selling guava plant seeds.

Rajeev learned the basics of sales and negotiation with customers and also gained exposure through extensive travel across North and East India, studying diverse soil types, climates, and farming practices.

Between 2013 and 2017, while working at the company, he enrolled in an online distance MBA program offered by the Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. 

During this period, he also travelled to Thailand to complete a one-month “Farm to Fork” course at Kasetsart University, where he gained a hands-on understanding of the practices used in agriculture. 

About the Co-Owners of Aruj Nursery, Dr B. K. Sharma and Ahsas Sharma

During his tenure at VNR Seeds, Rajeev regularly visited Dr B. K. Sharma’s established farm in Raipur. Dr Sharma was struggling with several persistent issues in his own plants. 

He sought Rajeev’s consultation, and Rajeev recommended the adoption of grafting techniques he had mastered during his visit to Thailand. 

This was the first successful trial of the grafting process, which laid a strong foundation of mutual understanding and trust between them. 

Dr B. K. Sharma is a renowned radiologist based in Nangal, Punjab. In 1994, he became the first in the region to open a diagnostic facility, Sutlej Diagnostics, to serve the local community. His son, Dr Ahsas Sharma, also successfully manages a diagnostic centre. 

After graduating from Singapore, Ahsas returned to Nangal to join the family in expanding their radiology business. 

As a full-stack developer, he also builds software tools to automate their operations and is now dedicated to supporting farmers as a key member of the organisation.

Dropping Out of the MBA in the Fourth Semester

In 2017, Rajeev made a crucial decision to drop out of the MBA program in the fourth semester, simultaneously resigning from his position as a sales executive at VNR Seeds. 

Although he had completed the initial semesters successfully, by the fourth semester, he felt that the MBA curriculum was not offering the real-world value he craved in order to solve the technical agricultural problems he was seeing on the ground.

"When I quit the job, I had only Rs. 50,000 as savings. I thought I would get through the next 3-4 months with this. I didn't tell my family. Only after the first harvest, when good money was received, did I tell them," Rajeev tells Startup Pedia.

His professional experience in Thailand was filled with positive and refreshing experiences because of the academic and technical exposure he got there.

He also expressed that the education system in Thailand is very different from that of India in terms of providing practical exposure to the course, and that students there are guided by professors who act as mentors rather than typical taskmasters. 

While students in India are often involved in mugging up concepts, their Thai counterparts focus on understanding the value of the concepts they are taught so they can apply them in the real world. 

"In Thailand, they teach theory for only two hours in the morning, and after lunch, there are only practicals. They show it on the field. Those learnings don't leave the mind even today," the agripreneur says.

"Any state agriculture university in India is not preparing you to become a farmer. They are preparing you to either do an MBA later or just for a job," he added further.

Initial Experiment Before Co-Founding Aruj Nursery

Rajeev spent around four years at VNR Seeds, where he interacted with thousands of farmers and learned about the high demand for Thai guava varieties. 

In 2017, a Thai guava farmer he had worked with offered him a 5-acre orchard in Panchkula, Haryana, because the owner could no longer maintain it. 

After his resignation, he moved to Haryana and didn’t inform his family about his resignation; he told them he had been transferred.

With the available land on his side, he decided to revitalise the older trees by implementing residue-free farming, using organically derived biocides and bio-fertilisers. 

He also adopted a three-layer bagging process to protect fruits from pests and ensure uniform colour. He invested around Rs. 6.5 lakh from his personal savings and generated revenue of around Rs. 20 lakh by early 2018. Based on this model, he was able to achieve a profit of around Rs. 6 lakh per acre.

The success he achieved boosted his confidence to co-found Aruj Nursery later on.

Failed Expansion and Strategic Approach 

Encouraged by his initial success, Rajeev sought to scale his operations by partnering with local investors to lease a 15-acre plot near Mohali airport; however, the venture failed due to marketing challenges, even though he was successful in technical operations. 

He continued managing the Panchkula farm until 2021, when the owner decided to sell the land, prompting Rajeev to build something of his own.

"When we were doing residue-free vegetables in Mohali, people didn't believe it. They would say, 'How is it possible without chemicals?' The marketing gap was too big back then," he says.

He ultimately allowed the owner to sell the land and then partnered with Dr. B. K. Sharma and Dr. Ahsas Sharma to co-found Aruj Nursery.

"Failure is a very good teacher. If you don't fail, you will never understand the depth of the problem. That Mohali project taught me how to look at the market first before putting a seed in the ground," the nursery founder tells Startup Pedia.

Co-Founding Aruj Nursery in 2021

In 2021, Rajeev joined his earlier connection, Dr B. K. Sharma, whom he had first met in 2017. 

Recognising a shared passion for agricultural innovation, they teamed up to do something for the welfare of farmers. 

Later on, Dr Ahsas Sharma also joined them. However, before launching their venture officially, they conducted a trial by distributing around 1 lakh grafted vegetable plants for free to farmers across the region to gauge market interest. 

In this trial, over 30% of farmers participated by following the methods strictly, resulting in a first-year commercial order of 50,000 plants for the next season. 

This trial proved to them that, with further awareness, they could create a massive impact in northern India, ultimately leading them to incorporate Aruj Nursery in 2022.

Also Read: This Karnataka Farmer Grows Rare Mango Variety Worth Rs 3 Lakh Per KG On His Terrace But Chooses Not To Sell Them

About the Farm

After Rajeev Bhaskar concluded his initial experiments with the farms in Panchkula and Mohali, he purchased land in Sehjowal village, Rupnagar, Punjab, to serve the Punjab-Himachal belt. 

The farm is spread over 3.5 acres, with a polyhouse spread across 2 acres, and an office, store, lawns, and other logistics occupying the remaining 1.5 acres. 

They primarily focus on the cultivation of capsicum, tomato, brinjal, and bitter gourd. The facility is designed for high-volume output across three production cycles per year, with a grafted plant capacity of 32 lakh plants per cycle and a non-grafted plant capacity of 64 lakh plants per cycle. 

According to Rajeev, the technical success rate of the grafting process ranges between 75–90%, depending on the precision and skill of the workers to make a cut.

Around Rs. 1.5 crore was invested initially, through a mix of personal savings and external investments/loans in procuring the land and building the setup. 

Also Read: Delhi Housewife Starts Growing Keeda Jadi Mushrooms At Her House; Builds A Natural Brand And Clocks Rs 42 Lakh Revenue

The Grafting Mechanism

Grafting at Aruj Nursery is a scientific process that involves merging a high-yield scion (the top part) with a wild, disease-resistant rootstock (the bottom part). 

In this process, a precise 45-degree cut is made on both components, which are then joined using silicone clips. 

By using eggplant rootstocks for tomatoes, this grafting technique effectively removes bacterial wilt and nematodes.

Additionally, grafted plants develop a strong root system that reaches 1.5–2 feet deep, compared to around 1 foot in traditional plants. 

This allows for higher micronutrient uptake and provides superior tolerance to extreme temperatures.

"In traditional farming, if bacterial wilt or nematodes enter your field, you are finished. You can't spray your way out of soil diseases. Grafting is the only 'armour' the plant has against a contaminated earth," the farmer tells Startup Pedia.

How Disease-Free Plants Benefit the Consumer?

In conventional farming practices, the presence of “bad soil” infected with either bacterial wilt or nematodes makes plants weak and susceptible to damage; thus, growers will necessarily use strong soil drenching and systemic pesticides that contain toxic residues that the plants will retain.

Through grafting, the need for all these practices becomes obsolete through the use of the innate resistance that the root system possesses. This allows for a 90% reduction in soil chemicals.

Not only will these plants be cleaner, but they will also have higher nutritional density.

As opposed to the shallow conventional root system that only accesses the topsoil that lacks nutrients or nutrients in general due to the use of pesticides and other medications that accumulate in the soil, the grafted plants have root systems that go up to 1.5 to 2 feet and access the “virgin” soil that contains high amounts of micronutrients that the conventional plants cannot.

The end product will be “residue-free” food that will be just the way nature intended it, as healthy and safe.

Growth, Revenue & Development Timeline

Since its inception, Aruj Nursery has maintained a consistent growth rate. 

In FY22, following its first commercial launch, the farm sold around 50,000 plants to farmers, generating revenue of approximately Rs. 6 lakh.

In FY23, the nursery sold around 2 lakh plants, creating revenue of Rs. 24 lakh.

In FY24, it sold 7 lakh plants, generating revenue of Rs. 84 lakh.

In FY25, approximately 8 lakh plants were sold, resulting in revenue of Rs. 96 lakh. 

The nursery is targeting a turnover of approximately Rs. 1–1.5 crore in the upcoming FY26.

Also Read: Meet this man who once reached the UPSC interview stage but quit further preparation to grow jackfruits; now clocks ₹95 lakh annually

Business Model and Distribution Channel

The nursery’s business model is built on trust and word of mouth. Rajeev and his team maintain a direct relationship with end users by selling to them directly, which prevents seed mixing and fraud at the distributor level. 

"In Indian agriculture, there is a huge 'trust gap.' Often, what is written on the seed packet or promised by a dealer is not what actually grows in the field. By selling directly, we ensure that the variety we promise is exactly what the farmer harvests," he says.

The primary revenue comes from the sale of grafted and non-grafted seedlings, supplemented by large-scale vegetable production. 

Aruj Nursery also shares technical videos and success stories, reaching tech-savvy young farmers across North India. 

Plants are moved directly from the nursery’s hardening facility to the farmer’s land, with the nursery managing logistics and transportation arrangements to ensure professional handling.

Future Objectives and Goals

Rajeev and his partners aim to focus on providing market conversion support and technical education related to grafting techniques. 

They are also working towards converting at least 20% of North India’s vegetable cultivation area to grafting technology. 

To meet this demand, the nursery is scaling up its infrastructure to prepare 50 lakh plants per season. 

In the long term, Aruj Nursery also aims to bridge the gap between the theoretical education offered by agricultural universities and the hands-on technical skills required to run a modern, high-tech farm.

"Our target is not just to sell plants; it is to change the way North India grows vegetables. If we can convert 20% of the area to grafting, we can secure the livelihoods of thousands of families who are currently at the mercy of diseased soil," the agripreneur tells Startup Pedia.

"Scaling to 50 lakh plants per season is a necessity, not just an ambition. The demand for disease-resistant technology is exploding because farmers are tired of losing their entire investment to soil-borne issues by mid-season," he noted further.

Also Read: This 27-YO GenZ from Goa Turns 25-Acre of Barren Land into Organic Farm, now Inspires Students through Agrotourism, Clocks ₹2 Crore Annually