Desi Farms Offers Clean & Healthy Dairy Products, Uses Tech To Run A Production-To-Delivery System

The Origin Story

India was the largest producer and consumer of milk and other dairy products in 2023. However, milk adulteration is quite common across the country, diluting nutritional value and threatening food safety. Chemicals, too, are added to milk to extend its shelf life, and customers often buy four-to-five-day-old milk as branded products tend to travel 500-1,000 km. Aware of these hazards, Sunil Shahi, former CEO of the legacy engineering firm Greaves Cotton, acquired a B2B dairy business and turned it into a farm-to-table D2C brand called Desi Farms that provides fresh and chemical-free milk and dairy products.

The Differentiator

Desi Farms processes and produces chemical-, antibiotic- and preservative-free milk at its ISO 9001:2015 certified plant (daily capacity is 1.5 Lakh litres) in Ahmednagar, Pune, delivered fresh within 12-24 hours of milking. The brand offers a wide range of dairy products, including A2 milk, ghee, paneer and more, with each product undergoing more than 20 quality checks. Its tech-enabled in-house system takes care of production, delivery and franchise modules to ensure product provenance, tracking the entire journey from farms to customers.   

The Growth

The D2C dairy brand recently acquired two more brands, Vedaaz and Manchar Farms. Its products are sold via its app and portal, on ecommerce marketplaces under the Manchar Farms brand and through  50+ Desi Farms outlets. It raised $3 Mn in 2023 and claims to turn a profit in the current financial year (FY24).

What’s Next

Desi Farms plans to acquire a dairy asset in 2024 to enter the Delhi NCR market and aims to become a listed company by 2025.