It’s not just IT & BT that have emerged as sunrise sectors for Bengaluru and Karnataka. The humble millet is now turning out to be a profitable sector for entrepreneurs in Bengaluru, and they are looking at doubling their business volumes after the three-day international trade fair in organics and millets scheduled to begin in the city from Friday.
Some of the prominent Bengaluru-based millet start-up entrepreneurs on Wednesday pointed out that the previous edition of the annual trade fair, organised by the State Agriculture Department, had boosted their business volumes.
N.L. Mamatha, an engineering graduate, who took to millet-based product development less than a year ago, says she has been able to generate a turnover of ₹70 lakh to ₹80 lakh a year within a short span. “I have achieved this in just about eight months because of consumer awareness as well as business opportunities provided by the trade fair.”
Similarly housewife-turned entrepreneur R.V. Jayalakshmi, who started her millet business from her residence in 2013, says, “Now I have set up a full-fledged production unit in Devanahalli and employ eight persons.” Her business saw nearly a three-fold jump after the previous edition of the organic trade fair.
Jay Kumar R., a software engineer who worked with Microsoft in the U.S., took up millet business two years ago and is bringing out 21 different products under the brand name ‘Grami Millet Super Foods’. He says his business volume has seen a 400% increase since the previous edition of the trade fair. Referring to the rapid development in the millet sector in Bengaluru, Mr. Jay Kumar said, “While the west popularised organic foods, India is going to popularise millets in the western countries.”
