Three computer engineers are providing fresh, unblended cow milk

Source : newindianexpress

Amid reports of adulterated milk flooding the market, three computer engineers are providing fresh, unblended cow milk from their dairy farm to around 2,000 families in Delhi and adjoining areas.

Run by Pankaj Navani, Sukhwinder and Deepak Raj Tushir, the 10-acre Binsar Farms in Janti Khurd village in Haryana’s Sonepat district, had a “dedication ceremony” on February 26.

The idea of the dairy farm came in 2009 when the three visited Navani’s ancestral home in Uttarakhand. “When we asked two farmers in the village if they needed any help, they told us we were guests for a few days and should go back to our IT jobs as we can never understand their problems. That triggered all of us to get into farming,” says Navani, 41, who worked for 16 years in the IT sector. He was then working with Dell in Bengaluru.

Tushir, 35, who comes from a farming family and owns the farm land, left his job at Wipro in 2009 to set it up. Earlier, he was engaged in IT projects for the State Bank of India and Airport Authority of India.

They started Binsar Farms with an investment of Rs 8 crore. Today, they have 300 mix-breed cows and 28 employees. The milk is sent to a cooling plant for storage, from where it is transferred to glass bottles. The bottled milk is then sent to the National Capital Region—Rohini, Dwarka, Patparganj, Noida, Indirapuram and Vasundhara. A litre of the milk costs Rs 65, higher than the usual packaged milk. It takes eight hours to transport it to the National Capital Region each morning.

“Our revenue is Rs.25 lakh per month. A lot of our money was spent in learning, but since the last two quarters, things have been positive,” says 36-year-old Sukhwinder, who still works in an MNC but dedicates his major time at the farm.

The trio is planning to come with a smartphone app for providing milk at doorsteps. The marketing is done through word of mouth. They are advised by Earl S Rattray, one of the founder-directors of Fonterra, New Zealand’s largest milk cooperative. “India’s dairy sector is one of the world’s heavyweights, along with the EU, the US and New Zealand, but it will always be adapting and evolving to stay vibrant and relevant,” Rattray says. His son Lewis is involved with the venture as the architect and designer of the farm.