Millet Marvels to set up whole-millets processing facility

Millet Marvels, a millet food start-up promoted by film actor and cardiologist Bharat Reddy, is setting up a millet processing facility with an investment of ₹15 crore. 

“The facility with a capacity to process nine tonnes of whole grains a day will be coming up at Sultanpur near here. It will be operational in December,” Rishika Reddy, Executive Director of Millet Marvels told businessline.

The company is raising funds from angel investors to set up the facility.

“The facility conforms to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and BRC (British Retail Consortium) certificates,” she said.

According to Bharat Reddy, the processing facility would help the company support its expansion plans.

Also read: Record procurement and distribution of millets planned for 2023-24

“We currently provide millet food to patients at the Apollo hospitals in Hyderabad. We would like to expand the service to other hospitals in the Apollo network in other parts of the country,” he said.

The company’s monthly turnover from restaurants and products has been pegged at ₹50 lakh.

The start-up, incubated at the Indian Institute Millet Research’s (IIMMR) Nutrihub incubator, currently runs a chain of millet food outlets in the city.

“We are also planning to expand this to other parts of the country,” he said.

On Wednesday, the company opened a 600-sq ft Millet Marvel restaurant at the arrival lounge of the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RJIA) at Shamshabad near here. The start-up is planning to open another outlet at the domestic departures lounge within a month.

Bharat, who juggles his cardiology practice, acting career, and entrepreneurial venture, said the company would consider setting up similar restaurants at other airports in the country.

Diversified Menu

The start-up has prepared its menu on par with cereal-based items.

The menu has idly, vada, dosa, schezwan pizza dosa, uthappam, pongal, upma, poori, aloo paratha, aloo samosa, and mirchi bajji. It includes millet chicken dum biryani, the stable food for non-vegetarians in Hyderabad.

ICAR-IIMR Director C Tara Satyavathi said that millets have huge market potential as consumers have been opting for gluten-free food items. There is a huge potential for exports too.

Also read: Jowar can emerge as India’s sustainable alternative to wheat, says study

The yields are also high in India when compared with global peers.

“Since they don’t require much fertilizers, pesticides and insecticides, they suite the requirements of organic food lovers too,” she said. 

Nutrihub CEO B Dayakar Rao said that demand for millet based products has been increasing since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for greater consumption of ‘Shri Anna’ (millets).

“So far, the millets were grown in marginalised lands and farmers were growing millets for their consumption. They will start producing for you and me as it offers a revenue opportunity,” he said.

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