How this 25-year-old engineer built a successful millet foods business

When Palak Arora was pursuing B.Tech in food technology (from 2017 to 2021), she heard the word ‘antinutrients’ for the first time. None of her classmates knew that antinutrients, found in pulses, cereals, millets and other grains, can interfere with nutrient absorption and digestion.

“We all thought legumes and grains were soaked to reduce cooking time. But nobody, including my parents, knew it also reduced antinutrients. That set me thinking how little we knew about nutrition, which is the key to high immunity,” Palak tells 30Stades.

Around the same time, COVID struck, and everyone was looking to boost immunity. Moringa, millets and other nutritive products saw a huge surge in demand. “I also searched for millet-based food products to boost immunity, but none focused on correct primary processing to maximise nutrient absorption. Most of them contained preservatives and additives as well,” she says.

At that time, Palak’s father encouraged her to create her own healthy millet-based mixes and food items. “I started writing recipes in a diary, made a structure, and my mom helped in stabilising recipes,” she says.

In 2021, she ordered basic equipment like a thermometer, a moisture analyser, a weighing scale, and turned a corner of her kitchen into a lab. Palak started experimenting with mixes of sprouted millets and pulses in various ratios.

“I developed a Punjabi cheela (savoury pancake) premix with sprouted moong dal, ragi and jowar, and it came out well. Then I calculated the nutritional profile and increased it by balancing the ratios of ingredients. The second product was a premix loaded with dehydrated vegetables," the young entrepreneur says. 

Also Read: Engineer quits job to process millets; annual revenues cross Rs 1 crore

The continued development of new products led Palak to launch her Faridabad, Haryana-based startup SatGuru Superfoods, with the Millium brand name, in July 2022. Millium means millets in Latin.

Today, SatGuru Superfoods offers 15-plus ready-to-cook products under Millium. They include millet noodles, millet pasta, flours, oatmeal, flakes, millet pulao and pancake mixes. “All the products can be cooked in less than ten minutes and are free of preservatives,” Palak says.

SatGuru Superfoods is set to launch ready-to-eat healthy munching products under a new brand soon. While Millium’s monthly turnover is a minimum of Rs 3 lakh, it hits Rs 7 lakh to Rs 8 lakh monthly during festive seasons. 

The Indian ready-to-cook millet market is experiencing high growth and was valued at 624.18 million dollars in 2024 and is projected to reach 1546.81 million dollars by 2030, with a CAGR of 16.41 percent, as per TechSci Research. 

This growth is driven by increasing consumer awareness of the health benefits of millets and a growing demand for gluten-free products.

Also Read: Engineer couple builds Rs 2 crore laddu business with Rs 1 lakh investment

From college student to entrepreneur

In 2021, Palak’s fourth year of BTech was completed, and she got placed in a sales and marketing organisation. “I felt that it could be a great marketing exposure. However, after two months, my health deteriorated as I was driving over 100 km per day for marketing work. I resigned,” she says.

To gain more experience in launching food products, Palak applied to three MNCs and took up the offer from Danone to work in the infant formula department at their factory on the Chandigarh-Ambala highway. “I joined their global R&D team in September 2021,” she says.

Alongside, she kept working on her millet mixes. On June 5, 2022, Palak learned about her society’s Eco Club organising an event to mark World Environment Day. “Since millets are sustainable crops requiring little water and reducing carbon emissions, I was allowed to put up a stall. We launched our Punjabi millet cheela, veggie-loaded cheela mix, a multi-grain porridge and a nine-grain mix that could be added to chapatti flour,” she says.

“The response was good. The event started at 4 pm and by 9 pm, we had done sales of Rs 8500.”

People started ordering regularly from then on, she says.

The big push to young dreams

“In July 2022, there was a millet culinary festival organised by the Government. I learned about it at the last minute, and the authorities allowed me to put up a stall on the condition that I reach the venue at 10 am,” Palak recollects.

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That millet festival was a game changer for Millium's millet business, as no other startup had turned up that early, even though the dignitaries were about to enter the venue. 

“The organisers asked me to display all our products. I got noticed as a 22-year-old entrepreneur at that time, received a lot of enquiries and orders, and there has been no looking back since then,” says the millet entrepreneur.

“We started selling through WhatsApp as well. The next year, 2023, was the International Year of Millets, and Millium got an opportunity to be part of many exhibitions and events,” Palak says.

She made a website and started taking online orders as well. “Till then, we were operating from home terrace using a pulveriser, solar dryer and two to three workers,” she says. 

In 2024, SatGuru Superfoods began contract manufacturing for other millet producers. “We bought a piece of land in May 2024 to set up a production unit. Now we are expanding our production unit, which will take our capacity to 500kg daily,” she adds.

Millium products are available on the company website and Amazon. 

For young entrepreneurs, her advice is to stay focused on their goals and gather maximum knowledge and experience before launching a business.

(Rashmi Pratap is a Mumbai-based journalist specialising in financial, business and socio-economic reporting) 

Also Read: This MBA quit her Singapore job to become a millet entrepreneur; earns Rs12 lakh monthly

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