When you read the word Bahubali, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably the famous sequels directed by S Rajamouli. But I’m not talking about the film. Bahubali is the most on demand egg brand in Assam by a local entrepreneur, who turned the poultry business to a glamorous one with rapid success and many awards, including ‘Asom Gaurav’ by the State Government.
With only a handful of workers, Akash Jyoti Gogoi, an entrepreneur from the upper Assam district of Jorhat, started his egg production farm back in 2016-17 in Karanga.
Explaining how he became an egg entrepreneur, Akash Jyoti says, “I came to know about the huge shortfall of egg production in our State and particularly in the North East region. I had visited Germany and the Netherlands for some work related to my previous assignment. While there, I came across dairy and poultry production firms with State of the art machinery. The idea stuck in my mind, and hence I started North East Agro Products and Services with the intention to produce high quality eggs.”
Expanding Business
Akash Jyoti Gogoi had an experience of running his software firm Maverick Technologies which provided R&D support to Engineering Colleges and PSUs like OIL and ONGC. Backed by his decade long experience, Akash took a loan of over Rs 3 crores from banks to start his egg production unit in Jorhat. For his previous experience and stable relation with the banks, getting the initial finance was not an issue, where he also added substantial amounts from his savings. The initial production of around 20,000 eggs were consumed locally in Jorhat. Assam consumes roughly around 40 lakhs eggs per day and produces only 10 per cent of it. Akash saw a big opportunity to expand his business and gradually started expanding it to over 30,000 to 40,000 in the next two-three years. But it was still just a fraction of the huge demand for high quality eggs in the State.
Challenges During Pandemic
During our initial years, the world was hit by the pandemic in 2019-20, said Akash Jyoti. “Of course, it affected our agri business too. The supply chain broke and the plan for the second phase of expansion was halted.” Due to the restrictions imposed during those days, there was shortage of supply of essential items, which includes food and medicines of the poultry. But Akash believes that every difficulty brings some opportunity. This was the time when Akash Jyoti decided to start his own poultry food unit; now they produce most of the feed consumed by the poultry inside their firm premises.
Unique Selling Point of Brand
It was Akash Jyoti who first thought to brand his egg production with a unique name Bahubali. He said that Bahubali is packed with protein and other nutritions and a valued product. So, he stamped the eggs with the logo of muscular soldiers to give them a unique identity. Bahubali eggs are larger than the normal eggs available in the market and are priced Rs 9 per piece in the retail market. But despite the higher price, one has to pre-book these eggs to get them from retailers in cities like Guwahati, Tezpur and Jorhat. Akash Jyoti revealed that one Canadian lady visited his farm in 2018 and said that Bahubali is the only egg she can eat without salt in India. “So far, this is the best compliment from my customer about our production,” said Akash, with a big smile.
Bubu Bora, a retailer in Guwahati, said there is always demand for Bahubali. If we get 10 cartons of supply, the demand is always for 15-20 cartons of egg. The quality of the eggs make it the favourite of the customers, Bora added.
Venturing into Biofertiliser Production
Akash Jyoti now has two farms in Jorhat with a maximum production of 120,000 eggs per day. These eggs are consumed in four to five cities of Assam, including Guwahati. Akash feels it is still just a small portion of the huge daily demand. He is now planning to expand his egg production to other districts of Assam and take the production to four lakhs in the next couple of years. Along with egg production, Akash Jyoti also ventured into biofertiliser production. The 2,000 tons of bio waste of hens were converted to biofertiliser without using chemicals. Packed in 50 kg bags, the biofertilisers are sold for Rs 500 per bag, mostly in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Assam. The North East Agro Production and services firm, which started in 2016-17 with the production of Assam’s first branded eggs with merely 15 employees, now employs over 150 skilled workers directly and another 300-plus indirectly. As Akash Jyoti says, it is just the beginning, and we have many miles to go before we call it a true success.
“I came to know about the huge shortfall of egg production in our State and particularly in the North East region. I had visited Germany and the Netherlands for some work related to my previous assignment. While there, I came across dairy and poultry production firms with State of the art machinery. Hence, I started North East Agro Products and Services with the intention to produce high quality eggs.”
– Akash Jyoti Gogoi
Secret of Success: Larger than normal eggs are priced at Rs 9 per piece
Vision: So far, these eggs are pre-booked in four-five cities of Assam. Therefore, Akash Jyoti Gogoi, is aspiring to reach out to other cities and towns of Assam
Manufacturing: Akash Jyoti Gogoi’s two farms in Jorhat produce 120,000 eggs per day
