Yavatmal’s gramheet couple now plans to expand base

Pankaj Mahalle and Shweta Thakare’s business can be comparable to an Ola or Zomato of agriculture sector. Buyers and sellers of farm produce are brought together on a digital platform. Belonging to Yavatmal, a place not even known to many or known only for farmers’ suicide, as Pankaj says, the couple has an agrarian background.
Pankaj’s father is a marginal farmer and Shweta’s father had to sell off the family land and work in a shop. Both grew up facing struggles that come across agrarians families of the region.
Pankaj has a master’s degree from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) and Shweta is an engineer with a degree in developmental studies from IIT Hyderabad. What began with activism for farmers’ rights at the village level has now ended up as Gramheet — which is their full time business. It is a tech platform for buying and selling farm produce.
The company, started in 2020, is based at Warud-Tuka, a village 50km from Yavatmal town. In the beginning it earned a funding of $70,000 from Acumen India which supports social entrepreneurship. They are now looking for a $1 million funding for expansion. Lately, Shweta featured on the front page of a business magazine.
“Gramheet bypasses the traditional agriculture produce markets and middle men. We keep our prices competitive as compared to the mandis,” says Mahalle. At present we deal in tur, gram, soyabean and chickepea.
There are plans to expand to other crops. In 2020, the company was started with a share capital of Rs 2 lakh. Today, the turnover which began with Rs 3 crore now stands at Rs 19 crore.
The margin of profit is at 2.5%. The chain is too long which leaves a little as profit margin. Pankaj explain how his business works — they have tied up with farmers produce organizaitons (FPOs) which are the sellers and processing industries that buy these crops.
The FPOs in turn set up labs with equipment provided through Gramheet to ascertain the quality of the produce checking different parameters. The data of lab tests is fed on the digital platform and a price is arrived at. Farmers, who are members of the FPOs, are onboarded on the app, and so are the processing industries.
At present there are 4,500 farmers and 17 industries. Pankaj says the numbers need to be increased so that there is competition and farmers get a better rate. There are plans to onboard more buyers too with a target to tie up with 50 FPOs in all.
“Our USP is transparency due to the digital app. Farmers also have a choice to hold or sell as finance is made available against the crop. The produce is stored in warehouses and finance provided through companies that have been associated with,” said Mahalle
Now there are plans to supply hermetic bins that can store over 2 tonnes. These can be easily kept at home or farms reducing dependence on warehouses. A facility of sensor can also keep a check on pilferage, he said