How OM Bhakti Is Blending Heritage & Modern Retail To Reshape Puja Essentials

In India, where daily puja is a household ritual, it’s surprising that the market for essentials like cotton wicks, camphor, and puja oil has remained unorganised for decades. 

While some brands in the incense space have maintained quality standards, others have struggled due to factors like poor packaging, inconsistent quality, and lack of hygiene.

Sridhar Joshi, Prashant Kulkarni, and Srikant Joshi, the cofounders of OM Bhakti, personally experienced this gap. Being deeply religious, they were disappointed with the declining quality and hygiene of traditional puja samagri, particularly cotton wicks. 

To solve this challenge, they decided to launch OM Bhakti in 2012, a D2C brand that offers high-quality, traditionally handcrafted puja products. However, the startup became fully operational only in April 2016.

Om Bhakti’s Product Stack

OM Bhakti is a Puja Samagri brand dedicated to bringing quality and consistency to an otherwise unorganised market. 

It offers certified, high-quality products like cotton wicks, puja oil, and camphor, ensuring purity and hygiene.

The brand stands out with innovative offerings like cotton long batti, which provides 12-hour lighting, and ghee cotton batti, pre-soaked in pure cow ghee for a hassle-free puja preparation.

Unlike traditionally loose-packed puja items, OM Bhakti prioritises tamper-proof, hygienic packaging to maintain freshness and authenticity. 

By making essential products easily accessible through modern retail, ecommerce platforms, and local stores, the brand enhances convenience and reliability in puja rituals. Its product range also includes puja decorations, torans, and door hangings, catering to all puja needs in one place.

From Kirana Stores To Global Markets

The D2C startup enjoys its presence both online and offline. It is currently available on marketplaces like Zepto, Amazon, BigBasket, and Flipkart, as well as modern retail chains and stand-alone supermarkets (SAMT) to drive strong consumer traction. It also enjoys a presence in the US via amazon.com.

The brand’s revenue saw a slight increase from INR 7.27 Cr in FY23 to INR 8.48 Cr in FY24. Interestingly, following the launch of 12 new products in February 2024, the brand achieved an INR 2 Cr sales milestone in October 2024. 

The Bengaluru-based startup aims to close FY25 with INR 13.5 Cr in revenue, reflecting a 59.3% growth from FY24, and is targeting INR 100 Cr by 2027.

It also plans to scale its rural women workforce from 300 to 2,000 while forging partnerships with major temples to tap into India’s INR 4,000 Cr temple economy initiative.

[Authored By Pooja Yadav]