Namdharis: Branching out from seed business

The company recently rebranded itself as ‘Simpli Namdharis’

Hameed Ashraf | NT

Bengaluru: It is said that if you ever want to witness the miracle of creation, all you have to do is look at a seed. See how it grows. See how it blossoms.

“We take our responsibilities earnestly and seriously. We try harder and work smarter to produce high quality seeds that make our growers, traders and consumers better than the best,” Gurumukh Roopra, CEO, Namdhari’s Group.

Started in 1985 by Satguru Jagjit Singhji and Satguru Uday Singhji of Ludhiana, Namdhari Seeds began with contract seed production and pioneered various hybrid seed developments across the nation and the world. Later it graduated from being a seed producer and distributor to sustainable farming, retail and food business.

Recently the company has rebranded itself as ‘Simpli Namdharis’ with the first Simpli Namdharis outlet at Jayanagar in the city, but now it has 32 stores.

Simpli Namdharis brings to Bengaluru a distinctive grocery experience that’s founded in real commitments to both the environment and the customer. From fresh, organic and pesticide-free vegetables grown on their own farms in Bidadi, to the finest staples, grocery and household brands from across the world, placing a priority on fair trade and sustainable living.

Gurumukh Roopra told News Trail, “I’m a second-generation member of the family business, taking over the platform built over the last 35 years within the agriculture sector in India. The group in its early days began as a contract seeds producer for international customers and eventually ventured into breeding, R&D and sales of its own in various crops in the domestic market.”

Over the last three decades, Simpli Namdharis has built a loyal-customer- base. Towards this end, its Seed Quality lab has been one of the strong focal points of this company. Development of in-house skills coupled with internationally accepted protocols have helped ensure supply of seeds with high germination, vigour and uniformity.

“We are also one of the largest exporters of quality fresh produce from India into various International markets, products like baby corn, sugar snaps, snow peas and chillies from Namdharis are a common feature in prominent retail stores internationally. Traceability, control over the farm to the fork value chain, sustainability and responsible business practices are the fundamentals of our business values and leveraging these to roll out our omnichannel play in the retail space is an exciting part of our future,” he said.

As a group, the company ventured into retail in 2000 and opened their first store in Indiranagar, Bengaluru. The company is on its way to increase its footprint across multiple store formats.

“We see this happening through three distinct formats of stores – convenience, supermarkets and large experience centres. Each format will have its own expansion plan which will be done based on catchment, size of real estate availability, population density amongst other criteria. Initially we are looking at cementing our foothold in Bengaluru and then look at expanding to other parts of South India,” Gurumukh said.

However, as the seeds are vital for everyone, the supply wasn’t much affected by the pandemic or the subsequent lockdowns.

Sharing Namdhari’s development plans, Gurumukh said, “We plan to expand our footprint in Hyderabad with an investment of around Rs 50 crore over the next couple of months. We will be setting up growing facilities in Hyderabad and are considering ‘Simpli Food Stores.’ We are also planning dairy subscriptions for direct supply of organic milk and other dairy products.”