Organic dairy brand Akshayakalpa, popular in markets such as Bengaluru, where it has achieved sales of Rs 400 crore in FY26, is entering the Mumbai and Pune markets with a Rs 200 crore investment, founder and CEO Shashi Kumar said in a conversation with FE.
Plans include targeting India’s fast-growing premium dairy segment with milk priced at Rs 100–110 per litre, higher than the Rs 60 per litre prevailing market rate for brands such as Amul.
Dairy products such as cheese, paneer, curd, eggs will also be launched here, Kumar said, as it looks to taps discerning consumers with organic certification, traceability, and farmer-linked supply chains, rather than price competition.
Entry into protein segment
The company is also entering the high-protein dairy segment in Mumbai-Pune, launching milk variants with 25 grams of protein per serving at around Rs 100, positioning them against protein supplements.
Kumar said demand is increasingly driven by food safety concerns and awareness, with even middle-income households opting for premium dairy products selectively.
“Consumers are asking where their food comes from and how safe it is, with adoption of clean-label food and dairy products on the rise,” he said.
Bengaluru playbook
The company’s Bengaluru playbook underpins this approach. Despite Nandini’s 80–85% market share, Akshayakalpa has carved a niche for itself in the city, looking to replicate the success in Mumbai-Pune.
The Mumbai launch includes an entry into the Powai market. This will be expanded across the city through direct-to-consumer deliveries, e-commerce, and quick commerce platforms. Offline retail expansion will follow once scale is achieved through online and D2C channels, Kumar said.
Backed by a Rs 350 crore Series D funding round, the company is scaling operations with a dual-track strategy—building demand first while creating supply in parallel. Initial deliveries in Mumbai are being serviced from its Hyderabad cluster, which went live in December 2025.
The Mumbai-Pune expansion will see Rs 50 crore invested in distribution over 3–5 years. Akshayakalpa has also begun work on a Rs 150-crore farming ecosystem between Nashik and Pune, expected to be operational by 2029–30.
Apart from Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Akshayakalpa is also present in Chennai in the south. The company reported Rs 556 crore in overall revenue in FY26 and is targeting Rs 770 crore in FY27, with Mumbai-Pune expected to generate Rs 25 crore in its first year. It aims to cross Rs 1,000 crore in revenue by FY28. It also hopes to break even in the next one to two years.