The prominent start-ups in India are making their mark in the industry with their dedicated maneuvers and out-of-the-box methods. They are increasingly attracting investors from all over the world as business opportunities are rising. The government is also helping these start-ups with funds, and accordingly, job opportunities are also increasing.
Many entrepreneurs are establishing start-ups for the better growth of the Indian economy. They are also treating the employees equally, while providing them with the scope to learn, grow, and succeed in their career.
One such renowned start-up which has made a name for itself in the list of top suppliers in India is none other than CashPe Agri Retail Pvt. Ltd. Established in 2014 and situated in Pune, it is a 6-year-old agri-commerce organization, focused on dairy farms and animal nutrition. The company believes that milk is the single largest crop of India with millions of farmers involved in nourishing over 300 million bovines. Cashpe Agri Retail Pvt. Ltd. is listed in Trade India’s list of verified sellers.
In an Interview with Insights Success, the company shares about its journey and how it is serving the customers, the various struggles it has gone through, the various products and services it offers, and its future plans. Following are the highlights of the interview:
- Kindly mention in detail about your startup, its inception story.
Early in 2014, Vikram Anand was keen to explore what problems the farming community faced; due to crop loss, drought, excessive rainfall and other reasons. He travelled to many farms and spoke with farmers to understand their issues. What was apparent to him was that the farmers were buying inputs at retail prices and selling their produce at wholesale prices! Thus the small farmers never made enough earnings to sustain their livelihood through farming alone. This was a peculiar problem and Vikram was of the opinion that one could definitely find a solution to this problem. Thus, the idea of starting a company which would provide excellent quality inputs to farmers, was born.
- Brief us about the featured person and your journey towards starting your business.
Vikram Anand – Founder of CashPe has worked as an entrepreneur for many years in the payments business. Since India is mainly an agrarian society, Vikram was keen to look at issues which would solve the input problems which the farmers faced.
- What is the current scenario of the industry that you are catering to?
Dairy farming contributes to 4% of India’s GDP. India has the largest dairy herd of more than 300 million bovines, producing more than 190 tonnes of milk and is also the largest producer and consumer of dairy products. India also exports to other countries and this market will definitely grow in the future.
- Is your startup bootstrapped or are you looking for funding options?
We have received funding.
- How has the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic influenced your business operations?
After the second wave of the pandemic which affected urban as well as rural areas; there has been a cautious approach from everyone. Talks of a third wave are also making rounds. Covid-19 has definitely affected most businesses.
As an agriculture business which was an essential service, we were able to continue our work without being completely affected by the lockdown.
- As a startup, what steps are you taking to acquire new customers or retain the existing ones in these challenging times of Covid-19?
Farmguru has quickly built a valuable dairy ecosystem by integrating curated products and service owners, network access partnerships and knowledge advisory data stacks. Most of our new customers come from references because someone they know has used and experienced our services. By providing excellent farm inputs and making sure that we help solve any issues they face; we are thus able to retain existing customers.
- What kind of products or services does your startup offer?
For a farmer, we enable discovery of curated, exclusive farm inputs like seeds, crop protection, crop nutrition, animal nutrition inputs; on a mobile phone and then deliver these conveniently to the farm gate saving costs and increasing a farmers’ profits.
- What kind of challenges have you faced while incorporating your company?
We did not face many challenges while incorporating our company, except that it took some time for us to receive our licenses for carrying out the agriculture business.
- Where do you envision yourself and your company to be in the long run and what are your future goals?
We expect to work with a million dairy farmers in the coming years and build a valuable business which ensures high quality nutrition for the bovines and exceptional returns to the farmer. We envision Farmguru to be a deeply trusted brand and to deliver genuine value to our customers.
