‘Making tangible investments in farming is extremely critical for our country’ Premium

When Satguru Jagjit Singh, former chief of Namdharis (a Sikh sect), thought of starting an agribusiness and bought a 50-acre land to grow vegetables and fruits in Bidadi in the 1970s, he never imagined that his venture would one day become a household name in Bengaluru, spread across the country and also take to export.

When Satguru Jagjit Singh, former chief of Namdharis (a Sikh sect), thought of starting an agribusiness and bought a 50-acre land to grow vegetables and fruits in Bidadi in the 1970s, he never imagined that his venture would one day become a household name in Bengaluru, spread across the country and also take to export. In 1982, he asked his nephew Satguru Uday Singh to take the reins of the operations, and under his guidance, the group formally began its professional journey.

Namdhari’s Group, which has a presence across fresh fruits and vegetables, groceries, dairy, seeds, fine dining and cafes, has a cumulative turnover of ₹ 650 crore. The chain currently has 11 Simpli Namdhari’s stores and 16 Namdhari’s Fresh stores.

Gurmukh Roopra, CEO, Namdhari’s Group, argues that with more and more people from rural areas moving to urban centers for jobs, there is a trend where the number of people engaging in agriculture is gradually decreasing. This opens up an opportunity for the consolidation of landholdings. If landholdings become bigger and agricultural activity is scaled up, incomes of Indian farmers can improve, be said, in an exclusive interview with The Hindu.

What are Namdhari’s immediate expansion plans?

We are looking at a fresh phase of expansion, in Bengaluru and in other metros. All our businesses, mostly seed business and fresh retailing, require new investments. We will be looking for a financial or strategic partner to help us take our story forward. We are planning to raise upto $50 million to scale up our retail network in Bengaluru and across the country in the next 10 months. We are looking at multiple options including strategic or financial partnerships to expand our retail business and seed business. We are also looking at investing organically. Again, it’s less about money or venture capital, it is about finding somebody who believes in the philosophy of Namdhari’s and somebody who wants to take us beyond Bengaluru and make us a truly national story.

What is the future of India’s agriculture, especially when farmers are increasingly abandoning their farms?

There is a short-term approach and a long-term approach to solving this issue. In the short term, if the government’s ambition is to have regulated mandis in every five-kilometer radius of farm regions, we should have 42,000 mandis across the country against some 7000 currently. At present, only 2.8% of the GDP is spent on agriculture while other sectors such as defense, roads, infrastructure and others get a better share. So unless the government increases its investment in farming, improves post-harvest, agricultural marketing, improves market access, set up more cold chains, and establishes links between mandis, things won’t improve.