Bengaluru Entrepreneur Makes Bindis With A Funky & Cultural Twist; Clocks Rs 20 Lakh – Now Worn By Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia

If you are someone who loves wearing bindis with your Indian ethnic outfits, you know how much power they hold in putting everything together.

They're almost like the last piece of a puzzle – something small, yet transformative

A touch of tradition here, a caress of elegance there.

But for Meghna Khanna, a 46-year-old entrepreneur, there is an evident gap.

“We've experimented so much with bracelets, neckpieces, and earrings. But bindis? They've never really achieved jewellery status. They are mostly plain-looking and have a disturbing use-and-throw aspect to them. This is the exact gap that we address by offering customers statement, handmade bindis that stay with them,” Meghna, founder of The Bindi Project, tells Startup Pedia in an exclusive interview.

Founded in December 2022, The Bindi Project is a Bengaluru-based artisanal, handcrafted bindi brand that sells fun, heritage-rooted, and reusable bindis.

The brand’s statement, handmade bindis have been worn by Bollywood celebrities like Kajol, Kareena Kapoor, Sonam Kapoor, and Tamannaah Bhatia.

THE BACKGROUND

“I am from all over the country, actually,” Meghna laughs.

Her father was a refugee from Lahore who grew up in Andhra Pradesh, and eventually became a fighter pilot.

“He met my mother in Kashmir, who is originally from Bengal,” she adds.

After completing her schooling and undergraduation, Meghna Khanna pursued her MBA in marketing and finance from Pune. She then entered the corporate world and secured a job in a qualitative market research firm.

“I joined this job on the 4th of July 2001, and quit it on the 5th of July 2002. The reason was simple – I wanted to do something of my own,” Meghna Khanna tells Startup Pedia.

The last few years of Meghna’s schooling took place in Jodhpur. Naturally, she became interested in the jewellery craft and accessories that the city is popular for.

“At the time, I discovered that down in the South, there was a lot of heavy gold jewellery. But close to no one was making nose pins. I started travelling to Jodhpur from Bangalore via trains, and got together with a few artisans. That's how Levitate started,” she explains.

From 2002 to 2020, Meghna ran Levitate as a successful handcrafted jewellery brand.

But owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, she shut shop.

“That was kind of a rough period for me. Levitate had reached a lot of people, was even featured in magazines like Cosmopolitan. To close it down was like shutting down a part of myself,” Meghna Khanna opens up.

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LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

Ever since Levitate shut down, Meghna constantly battled with a lot of internal conflicts.

“As a salaried person, when you lose a job, you simply have to hunt for another one. But as an entrepreneur, I think changing your path is almost like giving yourself a makeover. That journey is very blurry and even scary,” entrepreneur Meghna says.

In about 2022, Meghna Khanna was talking to a friend.

They were talking about their grandmother and mentioned how she had handed down a gold bindi to her mother.

“This friend of mine needed glue to use that bindi. But I was astounded – were bindis handed down? Next thing I knew I was researching bindis specifically and realized that they were once very valuable traditionally. It was a community-specific thing in India that got promoted during the 80s,” Meghna shares.

One thing led to another, and she recognized some key gaps in the bindi space in India:

• While culturally important, bindis are mostly plain-looking and mundane. They are colourful, at the most.
• Bindis have a use-and-throw aspect which contributes to waste.
• There is a serious lack of bindis that make a statement.

“So I decided to start The Bindi Project and make handmade, statement bindis that are funky, expressive, and all things divine femininity," startup founder Meghna Khanna says.

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JOURNEY AND CHALLENGES

In December 2022, The Bindi Project began with a bootstrapped amount of Rs 5 lakh.

This amount has been spent in the last two and a half years in paying the deposit for the office, buying packaging material, building a social media presence, and other miscellaneous expenses like salaries and rent.

“I already had lots of broken pieces of jewellery left over from Levitate. In the beginning, I sat down alone and started putting elements like design, bases, embellishments, and packaging together,” entrepreneur Meghna says.

By 2023, Meghna hired two single mothers who would take the bindi items home and finish up making the batches.

She then started attending cultural events and setting up her pop-up stalls to help people understand what The Bindi Project was all about.

“It has always been an interesting experience at pop-ups and events like these. People absolutely love that bindis can be this versatile and expressive too,” she says.

However, technical challenges like building a robust website and automating tasks like order fulfillment remain.

Currently, Meghna has a very small team that helps her fulfill the backend side of things – from perfecting the website to taking care of orders and editing reels for social media.

In 2023, Meghna Khanna started making reels about her bindis and what The Bindi Project stands for.

“Initially, it's a tough game to crack. It's hard selling. But eventually, we've received a lot of push in terms of paying customers because of Instagram,” startup founder Meghna Khanna says.

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THE BINDI PROJECT

The Bengaluru-based artisanal, handmade, and statement bindi brand, The Bindi Project, thrives on three pillars – creativity, expression, and culture.

Each bindi designed by Meghna and created and finalized by the artisans is carefully thought-out.

“We are not into mindlessly churning out designs. The aim is to offer something that stays with people – the one wearing it and also the one seeing it on someone else. We want to help people express themselves with confidence,” startup founder Meghna Khanna tells Startup Pedia.

Each bindi of The Bindi Project is also extremely versatile in the sense that people can wear them with ethnic as well as modern clothes.

“There is no bar. You can even wear them with jeans if you want to,” Meghna adds.

The brand dabbles in categories like festive, leather, textile, and contemporary bindis. Its collections span from heritage and culture-rich offerings like Amaani, Durga, Kalyani, Kali, Poulomi, Ruhaani, and Kamakhya.

Since day one, The Bindi Project has remained committed to creating fully original designs.

“I have always wanted to be 100% authentic when it comes to designing jewellery. This has been inside me since my days of Levitate,” Meghna shares.

Currently, the Bengaluru-based artisanal, handmade, and statement bindi brand takes orders via WhatsApp and Instagram. Meghna and her team send over the catalogue to their customers and take their orders.

“We use Google Docs, Excel, and Google Drive to keep track of everything. But we are now looking for someone who is aligned with the values of The Bindi Project to help us automate everything and eventually scale,” Meghna says.

“We also want to work with artisans all over the country now, and give employment opportunities to rural women as well,” she adds.

As far as the revenue channels are concerned, the biggest chunk comes from pop-ups and retail stalls that Meghna and her team set up in various exhibitions, events, and shows across India. Then, the online leg takes up the second-biggest chunk of orders coming in from WhatsApp and Instagram.

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THE UNIT ECONOMICS

Currently, The Bindi Project’s average order value comes at Rs 1,500.

According to startup founder Meghna Khanna,

• 35% to 40% of this figure goes into designing, packaging, and delivering.
• While another 30% or so is taken up by miscellaneous expenses like rent, salaries, and marketing, the remaining 30% is the profit margin.

GROWTH

It has been more than two years since the Bengaluru-based artisanal, handmade, and statement bindi brand started.

To date, it has served more than 1,500 customers across India and even reached Bollywood actresses like Kareena Kapoor, Tamannaah Bhatia, Sonam Kapoor, and Kajol.

“I am extremely grateful to the stylists of these lovely stars who recognized us and styled them in these bindis. This is also a win for every woman who works behind-the-scenes at The Bindi Project. I also want to thank writers and supporters who keep encouraging me,” Meghna smiles.

In FY24 (the first year of operations), The Bindi Project clocked an annual revenue of approximately Rs 10 lakh.

In FY25, the brand’s revenue doubled to Rs 20 lakh.

“Last year was a bit difficult for us, but we travelled a lot across India. Setting up more pop-ups than ever contributed to our growth,” entrepreneur Meghna says.

“The Bindi Project is something that channels the inner Goddess in every woman. That's the thought we design our bindis with. We are authentic, passion-driven, and value expression a lot. Making bindis funky again, while remaining culturally-rooted, is what we will continue working towards,” Meghna Khanna signs off. 

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