At least six times they decided to down the shutter – only to revert and retry. Nine years on, with revenues comfortably on track to exceed INR 500 Cr, they don’t cry over spilled milk anymore and, instead, look ahead to get bigger.

The tale of Akshayakalpa has been as unusual as its journey over the years. The idea was not conceived in the boardrooms but in a farm on the outskirts of Bengaluru where 27 Wipro engineers volunteered to share a part of their salaries to build a clean, organic dairy brand, offering milk that’s free from pesticides, chemical toxins and additives.

“Every time we ran into a trouble, we would get into a conference call and I would personally ask my ex-colleagues at Wipro to contribute anything from INR 50,000 to INR 50 Lakh so that the business could sustain,” co-founder and chief executive Shashi Kumar told Inc42 in a candid chat.

E-commerce was yet to enter the food segment in a big way and quick commerce was far from coming into existence when Akshayakalpa started selling milk through wholesalers.

The crowdfunding-based dairy startup had to rely heavily on physical or offline sales through intermediaries and agents, but a fragmented market with no proper way to realise revenues from intermediaries was the biggest hurdle.

After five years of struggle, the founders spotted growing stickiness with the brand around 2016.

“Right from the beginning, we made sure to connect with farmers, helping them transform their land for clean and organic produce. This was gradually yielding results for us, mostly through word of mouth, until the demand gathered momentum,” Kumar recounted.

A rapid change in consumer preference for slotted deliveries translated into the first breakthrough for Akshayakalpa, which was selling directly through its own app or website and ecommerce platforms like BigBasket, Milk Basket and FreshToHome.

A White Mughal Out Of A Dairy In Blues

India, which produces 25% of the world’s milk, aims to raise its production to 300 Mn Metric Tonnes (MMT) over the next five years from 239 MMT. A 63.56% growth in production over the last 10 years has paved the way for players like Akshayakalpa to........

© Inc42