Bhavani Pindi Vantalu is a food processing enterprise situated in Ankushapur, a remote village located in the Medchal−Malkajgiri district of Telangana. The enterprise specializes in making Ready-to-Eat (RTE)/Ready-to-Serve (RTS) products, a wide variety of different kinds of sweets, and snacks like Muruku, Gavvalu, Janthikalu, etc. The driving force behind the enterprise, Ms. Sudagoni Navaneetha (36), worked tirelessly towards building a strong brand presence in the market and as a result of her efforts, the enterprise has become a well-known name in Ankushapur for offering authentic taste with good quality packaging. Prior to setting up the enterprise, she had been working towards empowering the women of the village and founded Bhavani Podupu Sangham (Bhavani Self Help Group) in 2006.
To ensure that the women of the SHG gained practical marketing exposure and got a platform to showcase their products, she enrolled the SHG in various exhibitions where the members were able to have first-hand experience of one-on-one customer interaction. Through these exhibitions, the SHG sold a lot of products and also generated positive word-of-mouth across the district. Soon, the demand for the products started to increase and this was the time when Ms. Navaneetha decided to put the efforts of the women into a formalized framework and founded Bhavani Pindi Vantalu in March 2021.
As time passed, the demand for the products increased but the lack of funds became a critical challenge for her to meet the working capital requirements of the enterprise. Raising funds for the same became an obstacle and this was the time when she came to know about the PM Formalisation of Micro food processing Enterprises (PMFME) Scheme through the District Resource Person (DRP) and the Seed Capital support provided to Self Help Group members for working capital and purchase of small tools.
With the support of Telangana State - Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (TS-SERP), she received a Seed Capital amount of Rs.40,000 in September 2021 under the PMFME Scheme. She utilized this amount as working capital and purchased packaging material & raw material. As a result, the production capacity of the enterprise increased from 20 kg per day to 30 kg per day and the packaging quality of the products improved. This also resulted in the daily revenue of the enterprise increasing from Rs.1,000 per day to Rs.3,000 per day. She also received training on Bookkeeping, Packaging & Hygiene from the District Resource Person appointed under the PMFME Scheme.
The products are being marketed via local stores, retail outlets and in wholesale within Medchal-Malkajgiri. Ms. Navaneetha aspires to expand the operations of her enterprise and has also applied under the PMFME Scheme to avail of the credit-linked subsidy support. The financial turnover of Bhavani Pindi Vantalu for FY 2021-22 was Rs.4,20,000.
(Content shared by Telangana State Food Processing Society)