Startup Story #53: Desi Farms – Quality Assured Fresh Cow’s Milk At Your Door

August 14, 2017

When Prateek Gupta shifted from Ahmednagar to Pune, he was constantly searching for fresh milk. He tried looking for local vendors who sold fresh farm milk but couldn’t find any in the city. That’s when he decided to start Desi Farms, in December 2016, that processes and packages milk and milk products, also providing quality check at your doorstep.

“We process around 100,000 litres of milk in a day. we are very strict about following norms and regulations that don’t lead to adulteration of the milk product. We believe in transparency so if you want a quality check, our chemists will come to your doorstep and test the milk sample,” explains Gupta who is also promoting the indigenous Gir Cow milk by spreading awareness of its properties.

With an operational outlet in Baner and a home delivery option, Desi Farms has a variety of products like milk, paneer, ghee, curd, buttermilk and shrikhand. Apart from this, the venture specialises in providing desi cow milk that is farm fresh and organic. “In India today, 90 per cent of the milk we are drinking comes from Jersey cows that have been imported from abroad. All our desi Gir cows have been exported abroad, mostly to Brazil. The price you get for the milk of both cows is the same but the Jersey Cow produces more milk than the Gir cow. However, the quality that comes from the Gir Cow is better than the Jersey Cow. The nutritional value is much higher. We have tied up with several farmers and we are encouraging them to promote the Gir Cow by giving them fair prices,” says Gupta.

One of the biggest challenge he says, was to get through to the dealers and distributors, “Getting into the milk industry is tough. The biggest hurdle we faced was getting our products distributed. In order to get rid of this problem, we decided to open our own outlet in Baner and start a home delivery system. We have a mobile app where our customers can place their orders and change it as per their convenience. We have around 800 customers in the city. Our other challenge was to do with educating people about the benefits of drinking desi cow milk. 70 per cent of the milk in the market today is adulterated. Most people are unaware that the Gir Cow A2 milk is highly known for diabetes and asthma prevention.”

For the future, Gupta sees a long way ahead for this venture. “We are in the process of finalising seven outlets within the city. We’d also like to get into bakery goods, fresh vegetables and vegetable juices. Eventually, we do see ourselves expanding not just in Maharashtra but also in cities around India. We want to make sure that everyone has access to nutritional milk. Most importantly, we want to ensure that other brands follow our model to check adulteration and sell the quality product.”