This agritech startup has developed solar dehydrating technology to tackle post-harvest loss
Founded in 2022, Mumbai-based Khetar is an agritech startup that uses solar dehydration to preserve agricultural produce and increase their shelf life.
Hailing from a farming family in Rewa, Madhya Pradesh, Monika Tiwari grew up witnessing the many challenges faced by the agricultural sector.
Determined to find solutions, the first step in her journey was securing a seat at IIT Bombay to study Energy Science and Engineering. During her time at IIT, Tiwari was selected for the Jagriti Yatra for entrepreneurs, a two-week train journey across the country. This experience exposed her to new ideas and inspired her to embark on her entrepreneurial journey. It was during this time that she discovered the concept of a solar dehydrator, which eventually became the foundation of her business model in a competition at the end of the Yatra.
In December 2022, she founded Khetar, a company dedicated to providing innovative, sustainable agriculture solutions.
While Tiwari started working as a software engineer soon after college, she felt something was missing in her life. But after founding Khetar, she found her true purpose as an entrepreneur giving back to society, she says.
“I was joined by my peers from IIT and corporate life—Visat Patel and Ashish Shah,” says Tiwari.
Patel is a mechanical engineering graduate from IIT Bombay with over a decade of experience working with startups, and plays a crucial role in helping Khetar with automation and finances. Ashish Shah is an ex-Adani, with over 30 years of experience, and holds the position of Chief Executive at Khetar.
With in-house designed and patented technology, Mumbai-based Khetar launched its first product, Rainger—a solar dehydrator.
Khetar was one of the finalists at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Platforms (C-CAMP) in 2024, and is incubated at SINE IITB, and NSRCEL IIM Bengaluru. She also joined the Indian School of Business (ISB) and is currently part of its I-Venture Immersive (ivi) programme.
"Through this programme, we gained crucial insights that enabled us to refine our business model and enhance our value proposition, ensuring we effectively addressed the needs of our target market," says Tiwari.
The journey
While working on an aeroponics project, she attended agri exhibitions in Mumbai, and realised that post-harvest losses remained a major issue for farmers. Motivated to find a solution, she developed a scalable dehydration system, leading to the creation of Khetar.
Tiwari’s research in sustainable technology and rural development, including a collaboration with RuTAG to design an affordable solar dryer, further deepened her understanding of post-harvest processes and their impact on farmers' livelihoods, with successful implementation in rural Maharashtra.
How Rainger works?
One of the oldest methods of preventing food spoilage is drying, which involves removing moisture from food.
However, one challenge is the potential fungal infection if the item is not handled with care. Tiwari explains, “It’s a closed environment so there is no problem of fungal attack and it can be done at a faster pace independent of the weather conditions.”
A dehydrator removes moisture from the produce, which can be further processed, packaged, and sold to food processing companies or exporters. Rainger operates in a small, compact space, and dehydrates various items such as fruits, vegetables, and flowers, and gives dried produce as the final output.
However, one key difference between Rainger and other dehydrators is that it generates water as a byproduct in the end-output, says Tiwari.
“If the capacity is for 1,000 kgs, we get an output of around 400 kgs of dry fruits and vegetables along with 600 litres of aromatic water.”
The by-products include rose water, amla water, ginger water, and tomato water which can be sold and helps farmers generate additional income. When amla and ginger are dried together, the extracted water can be used to make instant shikanji, notes Tiwari.
“Our dehydrator is a hybrid dehydrator. It is neither completely dependent on electricity nor completely on the sun, we have removed the dependency on weather,” she adds.
Using heat pumps, the machine disperses heat inside the dehydrator. Once the fruits and vegetables are heated, the moisture rises and is collected in a chamber. This chamber is then subjected to increased pressure, converting the moisture into water. The air continues to circulate until all the fruits and vegetables are completely dry, and the moisture content is reduced to a minimum.
The company has also incorporated IoT into the systems so that if the support system is based in a city and the machine is in a remote village, the performance can be monitored and any issues can be rectified remotely.
Additionally, the setting for drying a different item can also be changed remotely—if it is roses today, it can be changed to amla, etc., next, explains Tiwari.
While the manufacturing is done by a third party, the patented tech was developed in-house at a lab in Juhu.
Business and operations
The company operates on a pay-per-use model. “We have done multiple product iterations and to ensure that we are financially viable both for ourselves as well as for the users, we were able to fix a pricing of Rs 6.45 per kg (wet weight) processing of roses and other similarly valued fruits and vegetables,” explains Tiwari.
“For a 1,200 kg capacity system, the users have signed agreements to utilise at least half capacity (600 kg wet weight) on a daily basis for 25 days in a month,” she adds.
The company takes a small upfront payment of around Rs 3-4 lakh as a token of agreement between the client and Khetar. In two months, once the system is deployed, the company charges a monthly fee of around Rs 1 lakh. However, it can vary according to the produce, she says.
One of its notable clients is Pushkarwala, an FPO in Pushkar, which specialises in rose drying. The company claims that by using its dehydrators, Pushkarwala is currently producing both dried roses and rose water, and has increased its income by 5X.
The operators sign a minimum usage agreement and rent the machine for 8-10 years and Khetar also charges them a percentage of their profits. Citing the example of dehydrating roses, she says,
“On an average daily, they produce around 7,000 kgs of roses. We set a minimum of 600 kgs of roses to be processed daily.”
While the minimum agreement is 600 kgs, it can go up to 7,000 kgs of produce.
Future plans
In November last year, the company deployed two systems at Pushkarwala and Kisan Mitra, and plans to install five more soon. It is currently in talks with 20 FPOs in four states to further expand.
So far, the company has generated a revenue of Rs 8 lakh, and aims to reach Rs 30 lakh by the end of FY25. It also plans to deploy over 80 systems and clock a revenue of about Rs 4 crore by FY26.
Working diligently to build a network of FPOs, the company aims to assist them in creating downstream channels by connecting them with exporters or food processing companies if required.
Khetar also aims to create an in-house facility to collect all processed fruits and vegetables from its network of FPOs to pack and sell under its label. It is currently in talks with food processing companies like HUL and ATC, adds Tiwari.
The bootstrapped company is actively seeking funds and aims to raise around Rs 2.5 crore to expand the team of five to fuel its expansion plans. It aims to achieve a revenue of Rs 300 crore in 5 years.
Currently present in Rajasthan, the company is in talks with FPOs in Maharashtra for processing Chikku and strawberry, in Gujarat for onion and tomato, and one in Uttarakhand as well, she adds.
Tiwari sees S4S Technologies and Raheja Solar Food Processing as Khetar’s competitors.
In future, the company plans to sell the product, which costs Rs 25 lakh, instead of just renting it as it does currently. It is already in discussions with potential buyers as well.
“We project capex sales of 30 units in the next 12-18 months at a price point of Rs 25 lakh per system having 1,200 kg daily processing capacity,” she concludes.
(The copy was updated.)
Edited by Megha Reddy