From serving the underbanked sections to competing with top players in the dairy industry: top stories of the week
SMBStory also spoke to several MSMEs who welcomed the new custom duties and shared their thoughts about other initiatives.
This week has been eventful for the small and medium business sector. After a difficult year, the sector was looking forward to the Union Budget 2021. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman allocated Rs 15,700 crore to the MSME sector, besides laying a special framework for Data Analytics, Machine Learning (ML), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist the sector.
SMBStory spoke to several MSMEs who welcomed the new custom duties and shared their thoughts about other initiatives.
This week, we also covered Bankit- a fintech company, which is helping the underbanked Tier-III, Tier-IV cities with digital banking solutions and Jayshri Gayatri Food Products that launched a B2C dairy arm to sell paneer, butter and cheese in India after its B2B exports business came to a standstill in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bankit
Amit Nigam, COO, Executive Director, and Co-founder, BANKIT
According to PwC India, the digital payments landscape in the country has been growing rapidly over the last few years. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) reported a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 61 percent in volume, and 19 percent in value for digital payments in India between 2014–2019. While digitisation of small and medium scale businesses has seen rapid adoption of technology in India’s Tier III and IV towns, people in these areas are yet to take digital payments seriously.
This is where organisations like BANKIT play an important role, as they ensure financial services to the last mile of society.
BANKIT is a fintech company based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh that provides secure banking financial services, and helps residents of rural areas to experience easy and fast digital payments through a single platform.
Founded in 2010 by Amit Nigam and Satyajit Limaye, the company began operations seven years later in 2017.
“Between 2010 and 2017, we worked towards setting up the business, and understanding the gaps in the fintech sector. I worked with various companies during this time. Once the Digital India campaign began, and demonetisation happened, leading to growth of the fintech space, we decided to step in and cater to the population of Tier III, IV, and V towns,” says Amit.
Today, BANKIT is present in more than 23 states, has 50,000 outlets and has achieved a gross transaction value (GTV) of Rs 10,645 crore.
Jayshri Gayatri Food Products
Kishan Modi, Founder and MD, JGF
The COVID-19-induced lockdown presented a huge problem of unsold inventory for entrepreneur Kishan Modi. His Bhopal-headquartered venture (JGF) was into manufacturing and selling paneer, butter, cheese, and other value-added dairy products to a B2B market. His list of marquee international clients included McDonald’s, Domino’s and Subway in the US, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia.
In India, his customers included ITC, , Vadilal, Kwality Wall's, and other FMCG majors. However, the lockdown presented a unique obstruction. Sales came to a complete halt when India closed its international and inter-state borders.
However, like most challenging situations, this one too presented an opportunity – but only if Kishan dared to enter the B2C market. He decided it was the right time to take the risk and compete in the same market as dairy FMCG behemoths Amul and Britannia. This also allowed him to address JGF’s problem of unsold inventory by selling products locally.
In late 2020, he launched Milk Magic, a domestic B2C dairy products brand, and began retailing in Madhya Pradesh. Milk Magic’s USP is simple: it retails export-quality value-added dairy products in the Indian market.
The brand set up its national retail network via distributors and direct tie-ups with large format food and grocery retailers such as Reliance Fresh. It plans to build its own distribution channel by establishing physical outlets in major cities and will also sell on online retailing platforms. With this omnichannel strategy, Milk Magic will soon enter Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala, and will later expand to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab and other states.
Other top stories of the week-
Kaleen India
Monty and Radhe Rathi, Co-founders, Kaleen Group
Until 1994, Radhe Rathi was involved in his family’s textile business, handling its exports arm. But due to some differences, he decided to move out. Radhe, who had been living and working in the US, saw an opportunity in the rugs market when a trading project accidentally fell into his hands.
He dived into the industry and started exploring new avenues. In 1996, he established , a rug manufacturing and sales business. Although the company started by trading rugs in the overseas markets, it gradually moved into manufacturing.
In 2000, Radhe’s younger brother, Monty Rathi, Chief Operating Officer of Kaleen Group, joined the business and the duo shifted base from the US to Mumbai, setting up manufacturing units in Panipat, Mirzapur, and Bikaner.
Radhe emphasises that Kaleen India’s USP is leveraging technology in a largely traditional business segment. The company specialises in machine-made and handmade carpets using techniques like hand-knotting, hand-tufting on broadlooms, pit looms, and power looms.
Kaleen has a network of clients from over 50 countries, including the UK, US, Canada, and Brazil. It claims to ship more than 95 percent of its orders within 48 hours. The company has also made carpets for luxury hotel chains such as Marriott International, Hilton, and the Hyatt through distribution partners in the US.
In FY20, the group clocked a turnover of Rs 250 crore.
Edited by Rekha Balakrishnan
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