IIM graduate chooses to push green cart, build Brand Bihar

A native of Ekangarsarai (Nalanda), he returned to Patna soon after passing out of IIM-Ahmedabad in 2007. He started with a single pushcart having pumpkin, bitter gourd, lady’s finger, cucumber and other varieties of vegetables, brought from the Ganga diara (riverine) and the Nalanda fields, and selling them at Kankerbagh in Patna.

His vegetables, sold under the brand name “Samriddhi” (progress), sport tags with names of their areas of cultivation and the farmers who have grown them.

The fibre-frame cart has ice-pods to keep vegetables fresh and cool and a digital weighing machine assuring of correct calculation.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Kaushlendra said: “I started with making free home deliveries of vegetables within three-km radius in Kankerbagh.”

Kaushlendra sells vegetables under Kaushalya Foundation that has tied up with the state Government’s Agriculture Technology and Management Agency (ATMA).

Elaborating his plan, he said: “We are perhaps the only country that grows vegetables in the holy Ganga beds. Our fertile land boasting of rich history with Lord Buddha and Nalanda would only add to the marketing of Bihar vegetable.” He also calls it “piety branding”.

“If Patna rice can sell well in America, why not our vegetables, at least in other parts of the country?” he asked.

Besides, vegetables grown with methods of organic farming would be distinct from those sold in the local markets that are often treated with artificial colours, he said.

Kaushlendra first intends to make Bihar a vegetable hub and thereafter a national brand. He has given himself five to seven years to achieve this.

The IIM graduate, who already has over 300 farmers as members of his foundation, has roped in financers to buy 50 push carts within two months to station it at vantage Patna locations. A cart comes for Rs 45,000-Rs 50,000.

He has avoided middlemen by directly purchasing vegetables from chosen farmers. He has hired vehicles to transport vegetables from fields. He has been visiting farmers across Bihar to train them in methods of farming and branding vegetables. Kaushlendra has been also coordinating with Agriculture Produce Marketing Committee to train farmers in the knowhow of vegetable growing.

Marketing dynamics, he said, always play a vital role. His market survey suggests that most housewives not only want to buy fresh vegetables but are also concerned about cleanliness of the places where vegetables are sold.

Kaushlendra said: “I agree that the demand for vegetables is fixed and a new entrant would only cut into another’s benefits. This is where branding matters. One can see the result of several milk brands’ success stories for correlation”.

His IIM friends are very supportive of his “brave” venture. His brother Dhirendra Prasad also assists him. His demonstrator father Narendra Prasad has no regrets of his son’s decision, for he knows his son would “bring IIM perspective to his profession”.