This Village Girl Earns Rs 1 Cr Yearly By Selling Milk, Paneer & Ghee

Imagine a schoolgirl who has just finished her 10th grade. She has a long vacation ahead of her before she begins the 11th grade. 

She is spending her days sleeping, watching TV, and living life - the ultimate bliss and dream of any school-going child.

But for Shraddha Dhawan, a native of the Nighoj village in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, things were a little different. 

Shraddha started questioning the way she was spending her vacations.

She didn't want to just wake up, watch TV, eat, and go back to sleep.

She wanted to start a business.

HOW SHRADDHA FARMS STARTED

In an interview with Startup Pedia, Shraddha further elaborates on this, “See, I know it's a little off to believe that I wanted to do something worthwhile out of my vacations. Most of my friends were happy with the way their holidays were going. But I wasn't. I think that's probably because I've been brought up in a household that has always valued hard work and enterprise. So being idle just wasn't sitting well for me.”

Shraddha Dhawan’s father had a small cattle trading business. He would buy and sell buffalos, and always keep at least 7 to 8 of them at home. 

The family also had a small farm where the buffalos would graze and enjoy the nature.

During her summer vacations right after the 10th grade, Shraddha started helping her father in the cattle trade business.

She would accompany him to the city and understand first-hand how to identify the best buffalo, what is the criteria to buy a buffalo, and what is the right price to negotiate and come at while selling.

All of this gave her enough knowledge about the buffalo trading business.

After some time, Shraddha decided to start a dairy business with the buffaloes at home. 

She began her research and combined it with the experience and knowledge her father had provided her with. 

Shraddha started with the buffalos at home and zeroed down on the dairy outside the village that she would be selling the milk to. 

“The early days were difficult. I was doing everything myself. Handling the dairy business and academics side by side was challenging but I was determined to make something out of it”, Shraddha told Startup Pedia.

Eventually, 11th grade started and then 12th grade. School ended and college began. Shraddha began a degree in MSc Physics.

Each day, Shraddha would wake up at 4 AM. 

The first task of the day would be to do everything for the dairy business before college started at 8 AM. 

She would clean the buffalo sheds, feed them, and milk them. 

The milk would then be filled into cans. 

Shraddha says, “At that time, we only had a two-wheeler. I would take my father's bike, load it with cans consisting of over 100 liters of milk, and ride it all the way to the dairy. I would then unload the cans, sell the milk to the dairy, and keep the cans at a safe place before finally heading for college. Sometimes even I wonder how I was able to do all of this - day in and day out.”

By 2017, Shraddha Farms had a total of 25 to 30 buffalos. 

After the number of buffalos started increasing, Shraddha finally had enough financial resources to hire help. 

IMPACT OF COVID-19

Even though milk is an essential product and it was permitted to be sold during the lockdown in 2020, oftentimes important roads that connected farms to dairies were blocked. 

Shraddha mentions, “The cost of milk per liter had also come down by Rs 8.”

Times were tough but Shraddha Farms preserved, and soon bounced back.

GROWTH & SUCCESS

Eventually, Shraddha Farms grew in all ways - number of buffalos increased, workers and farmers increased, and the farm’s capability to be self-sufficient also increased.

Today, Shraddha Farms has a total of 130 buffalos. 

Apart from selling milk to dairies across India via post-offices and physical shops, the startup has expanded its product range to include ghee, butter, lassi, buttermilk, and curd. 

All products are 100% natural and have absolutely zero traces of additives and artificial flavours.

Shraddha Farms also has a 1 tonne biogas project on the farm.

Talking to Startup Pedia, Shraddha said, “This biogas project has helped us a lot. First, it generates electricity for all operations on the farm. So we save a lot on electricity bills. We are pretty much self-sufficient in that regard. Second, the biogas plant produces a lot of slurry - which is the urine, dung, and other waste. This is then sold as a fertilizer.”

The startup has innovated a bio fertilizer which consists of vermicompost and jeevanjevik khad.

This is sold to farmers as well as to some agri-companies directly.

While Shraddha Farms isn't available on e-commerce platforms, it mostly retails through its own shops on the Pune boundary. 

The startup has just started selling across India via post.

In FY24, Shraddha Farms earned a massive amount of Rs 1 crore from just its dairy business which includes milk and milk products.

Over the years, the startup has built a community of around 8 lakh people which includes customers, partners, farmers, sellers, and people connected on social media. It serves over 200 people on a daily basis.

Shraddha Dhawan also runs a training center for farmers who wish to enter the dairy business and earn a good source of income through it. In and around her village, she is looked at as a mentor. 

She has trained over 5000 people to date. 

WHAT'S IN STORE

Looking ahead, Shraddha Dhawan wants to encourage farmers to come together for clean and ethical dairy business practices. 

She wants to educate them on the benefits of coming together and earning more by selling bulk quantities of milk to dairies. 

Shraddha says, “While people in the city get a liter of milk for about Rs 65, local farmers from villages sell the same liter of milk for just Rs 30. Sometimes, even for Rs 22. This is very, very unfair to people who are working on the ground. It also makes them stuck in a cycle of low income, low returns.”

The startup’s aim is to protect them from private companies that often take away the larger share of profits in the milk business.