Many people in rural areas do not have the basic knowledge and education about finance for their benefit. By providing reliable financial solutions to the economically underprivileged sections of the society, Milklane has established itself in the growing dairy sector by attempting to bring digital transformation in the industry for the benefit of all farmer stakeholders in India. In an interview Gaurav Haran, CEO, Milklane and Dr. Ashok Modgil, Head B2B Operations, Milklane, spoke about the financial inclusion services creating an impact in the farmer community in India. Excerpts:
Please tell us more about the main objectives to drive interaction through digital initiatives for farmers?
We aim to establish a channel that is available to our farmers anytime anywhere and helps drive stronger and more personalized connections with our farmers. Farmers’ trust in Milklane grows as a result of services provided through this channel viz. financial inclusion, farm and animal health advisory and education etc. Digital payments help us to pay them on time and advisories and training provide them with expertise on how to increase their income. Digital platforms for education allow them to boost production by focusing on skill development, risk reduction, process comprehension, farm and cattle management, and connect farmers to consumers by letting them know where their goods are distributed to consumers.
Milklane’s Production and productivity enhancement programme also offers advice on how to feed and breed cows for higher yield and higher quality milk for distribution. Using Digitally enabled two-way farmer connection, we enable and offer them 24-hour support, as well as key information on farming and cattle care. This allows for the rapid dissemination of information through easily consumable options such as images, videos, and audio, as well as emergency notifications. We use gamification to improve the engagement across areas such as education, loyalty, and cattle feed consumption is ongoing.
Digital platform also aids in real-time visibility of procurement data down to the herd and cow level, reducing the risk of milk quality and quantity and an opportunity to proactively focus on areas of concerns.
How do these initiatives benefit all the stakeholders across India?
The Milklane has access to a consolidated dashboard of all operational data that allows them to see internal performance in real time. This allows for smooth operation and effective milk production. Front-line workers have access to timely and dynamic information, which helps them provide better service to farmers. There are automatic notifications for targeted intervention to determine the source of certain process deviations. Deep farmer engagement and business intelligence capabilities to support rigorous quality standards and operational excellence are maintained.
Because of the transparency in methods and procurement of pure cow milk, nutrient-rich, antibiotic- and toxin-free quality of milk, consumers have a sense of confidence and loyalty to Milklane. For farmers, digital advisory and education, extension services for cattle enable a progeny of improved genetic value capable of producing more milk and flourishing in a diverse dairy farming system to add income. Farmers’ skills are being developed through these efforts, demonstrating that an empowered farmer may create additional money by managing a larger, healthier, and more productive herd with fewer unproductive days at a lower cost of production.
What are the major milestones achieved so far?
Milklane has fully digitised its procurement operations from milk collection to farmer payments.
More than 5000 famers have been brought on board with these digital initiatives and it has been able to drive interaction in the farmer community keeping the Milklane team up-to-date with all information on cattle health, procurement level and smoothness, storage in bulk chillers, and distribution of the highest quality of milk. These initiatives have been spread across 100 villages in India.
Milklane has been able to initiate more than 90% of all payments digitally directly to farmers’ bank accounts. Farmers can use the digital financial services to keep track of transactions and also apply for loans as it adds to their credit ratings.
1 advisory per week is shared with farmers over the digital platform with 2-way farmer connect. They have been given instructions on preparedness for emergencies like COVID-19. Through gamification, engagement within the farmer community has increased by 47% and also sales for cattle feed and daily transactions have risen by 9%.
The average listening rate on the IVR platform has been seen as up to 76% with 1 message conveyed per week on the large farmer base (as cellphones are not needed).
Can you briefly describe the impact that this initiative will have and what are the challenges faced?
Our digital initiatives are going to have a profound impact on rural communities – digital literacy, financial inclusion, rural entrepreneurship and independence to name a few. By integrating technology into the daily processes of dairy farmers, we are equipping them with the diagnostic and predictive intelligence necessary to increase production sustainably while keeping costs down and cattle healthy. We are constantly evolving and expanding the scope of services offered to our farmer-partners, facilitating a gradual, but seamless transition to technology first capabilities, also contributing to modernizing the nation’s dairy supply chain in the process.
While challenges with respect to adoption and infrastructure exist, we see them as opportunities and are committed in our endeavor of bringing about a transformation into India’s dairy practices.
How do you plan to achieve scale and grow this initiative across India?
Currently, we have 5000 farmer partners spread across over 100 villages in Southern India as part of our digital initiatives program, however, as we continue to expand our presence, the program will generate organic scale too. The strength of our parent’s tech enabled platform, a network of several Agri-ecosystems that traverse the length and breadth of the entire country, as well as the tenacity to truly make a difference to rural communities will ensure our initiative scales across India.
How crucial a role do these farmers play to your business and ecosystem?
Our farmer-partners are the most important stakeholders in our ecosystem. The genesis of every idea takes shape from how we can add value to our farmer-partners. Working at the confluence of sustainability and social impact, long-term value creation for all our stakeholders forms the core tenets of our ethos. All our disruptive innovations, be it the bulk milk chillers in close proximity to dairy farmers, centralized logistics network as well as tech enabled monitoring and supply of produce, have been developed keeping in mind the needs of our farmer-partners. We are proud that our family of farmer-partners is now 5000 strong and is constantly growing.
About Gaurav Haran
Gaurav Haran is the CEO & Director of Milklane. He is responsible for managing PnL at MilkLane and driving purposeful growth with focus on innovation and technology. His over 25 years of experience includes responsibilities in areas of client relationship management, operations and delivery management and new service/business development. He is also an alumnus of a leading engineering institute and beneficiary of learning from multiple industry and management focused professional programs.
About Dr Ashok Modgil
Dr Ashok Modgil a veterinarian and dairy expert on quality milk sourcing with over 35 years of experience with Dairy companies like NDDB, Mother Dairy, Nestle & Abbott. He currently led Milk sourcing operations at MilkLane, the modern dairy business of Innoterra group spanning Andhra Pradesh and TamilNadu.
About Milklane
MilkLane (ML), an Innoterra group company (erstwhile Pioneering Ventures), is India’s first dairy company to provide high-quality milk that is safe from toxins and antibiotics. The company is successfully established in the B2B segment and has a significant presence in the consumer segment in India. The company aims to be a leader in the Indian dairy market with a focus on creating innovative, healthy, and nutritious products for families while improving the lives of farmers and animals.
MilkLane has been championing many of India-first and digital-first solutions for farmer engagement and operational excellence. Leveraging Whatsapp for 2-way farmer connect, Continuous improvement through gamification, leveraging voice for a wider reach, enabling workforce through technology and Analytics for operational excellence and improved service-levels are few of the initiatives taken by Milklane for the benefit of the farmer community. This interview highlights the growth Milklane has seen during the pandemic in regard to driving interaction and impact but also some of the challenges faced. They are looking at a future with all stakeholders’ financial inclusion with these initiatives for a digital transformation in the dairy sector.
