MBA quits MNC job for organic farming; now sells chemical-free food products across India

What prompted an MBA to quit a lucrative job with General Electric (GE) and take up farming? That too, when he wasn’t from a farming background? “A higher power writes the script for us,” says 49-year-old Deepak Sabharwal philosophically.

His journey from laptops and PPTs to getting his hands dirty at the farm is interesting. Today, he is the co-founder and CEO of Earthy Tales Organics Pvt Ltd, a New Delhi-based venture involved in organic farming and agri-processing. 

Deepak grows organic moringa, gooseberry (amla), lemon, and chiku on his farm in Puskhar, Rajasthan.

A passionate advocate for chemical-free food, he procures organic produce from over 300 farmers, processes it and sells the products across India.

The co-founder of Earthy Tales is Abhishek Singhal, a computer science graduate with a passion for solving business problems through innovative tech solutions.

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

Tough childhood 

Early in his childhood, Deepak learnt the value of money and hard work. Coming from a partition-torn family, he saw his father retire when he was just 13. It was an unsaid expectation that he should get a job and earn as early as possible. 

He picked up a B.Com from Delhi University, a cost and management accountancy degree (ICMA), followed by an MBA. Deepak started working with the Tatas, later Pepsi, and spent more than a decade with General Electric (GE). But destiny had other things in store for him. 

“In 2012, I got fascinated with farming. We had some lush green land in Pushkar in Rajasthan on the foothills of the Aravalli range. I visited the land and fell in love with the place. I intuitively felt I should do something there,” he says.

“While still working at GE, I would travel by bus every weekend from Delhi to Pushkar. It was an eight-hour journey to cover 420 km, but it was worth it. I did this for two years,” Deepak says.

“I never felt tired. In fact, I would come back recharged after a weekend on the farm,” says Deepak with a smile. He credits his family, particularly his wife, Sonal, for her unstinting support during those two years when he was away on weekends. 

How Earthy Tales was born 

While working on the Pushkar farm, one day Deepak saw a box of pesticides with poison written in bold letters on it. The shock did not allow him to sleep that night. “It hit me that I was putting poison into the soil and the produce grown in that soil was reaching someone’s house.”

Also Read: Seven agripreneurs connecting farmers with consumers

While he was still grappling with this, his mother was diagnosed with cancer. Deepak was shattered. He connected her illness to the way the food chain was “messed up”. 

“My mother’s cancer diagnosis connected the dots between food and health, inspiring me to found Earthy Tales to transform how we grow and consume food,” he says. 

He decided to quit his 20-year corporate career in 2017 and plunge full-time into farming. Earthy Tales was registered in December 2018. The company is committed to organic farming practices that use natural fertilisers, crop rotation, and biological pest control methods. “By working in harmony with nature, we strive to preserve the soil’s fertility, protect biodiversity, and promote a balanced ecosystem,” says Deepak. 

The company's revenue was Rs 4.44 crore in FY 2024-25. Deepak expects the number to climb to Rs 7 to 8 crore for the current fiscal year.  

His confidence is not unfounded. “The India Organic Market Outlook 2022 predicts a 20.5 percent CAGR growth in the organic market by 2026,” he points out.  

Handholding farmers 

Earthy Tales persuades and mentors farmers to take up organic farming. It provides training and also helps them get organic certification. Apart from its own farm in Pushkar, the venture procures produce from over 300 farmers in Chirawa and Nawalgarh in Rajasthan and Theog and Solan in Himachal Pradesh.  By eliminating middlemen, it ensures they get a 15-20 percent premium over mandi prices. 

Also Read: Engineer couple quits jobs, builds organic dairy business with Rs 2 crore turnover 

“Farmers face many constraints in organic farming. The biggest is being considered foolish for doing something different. Second, the land has become used to chemical fertilisers and pesticides. There has to be a cleansing process. The yield goes down for a considerable time, leading to financial loss. This transition time is the toughest period for a farmer,” the agripreneur says. 

Ramawatar Bugaliya has an eight-acre organic farm in Kalyanpura village near Nawalgarh in Rajasthan. He has been practising organic farming for 15 years and is government-certified. 

“I have been selling to Earthy Tales for three years and feel assured that my organic produce is reaching consumers interested in organic food. I want my produce to reach more and more consumers. My monthly income is Rs 1 lakh,” says farmer Ramawatar.

He makes vermicompost on his farm. “I own five cows and use their dung for compost. I make other natural pesticides using cow urine, neem oil and other inputs. Wheat, mustard and bajra are my main crops apart from fruits and seasonal vegetables,” he says.  

Also Read: Five reasons why organic farming is more profitable than chemical-based agriculture

Major products  

Earthy Tales has a processing unit in Delhi. Its products include fresh fruits and vegetables, rice, millets, unpolished pulses, fresh flours, cooking oil, ghee, spices and herbs, dry fruits and seeds, and bakery products (bread, buns, cakes and cookies). Other organic grocery items include jaggery, forest honey, juices, pickles, chutneys and jams, breakfast cereals and pasta noodles.

Selling organic produce is a challenge as there is no specific mandi for such produce. From a closed group of 20 known families, the venture now serves fresh, organically grown produce to over 500 families in Delhi-NCR. 

The number of products has grown from five to over 135. Apart from Delhi-NCR, they deliver the less perishable items pan-India through courier services. Overall, they sell to a B2C community of 10,000 people.

On the B2B side, Earthy Tales works with Zepto, Blinkit, Amazon and the Future Group. It has warehouses in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi. 

Organic products sold by Earthy Tales are 30 to 60 percent costlier than regular products of good brands. But there is a growing market as people are becoming more conscious about health and the environment. There is also a subscription model. 

“Authenticity is very important for a venture like ours. We have the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP) certification. Since the past five years, we have been conducting tests every two to three months to check the quality of our products,” says the agripreneur.

“Regular tests are conducted for pesticides, added colours and other parameters, and we share the results on our website. We have avoided the use of 200 tonnes of chemicals in the last four years,” Deepak says.

Women in key positions 

“Our employee strength is around 40, and 50 percent are women. Apart from empowering women, I find it a good business decision to employ them. They are more disciplined and focused,” he says. 

“Except for our delivery fleet, there are women in every department. In fact, women hold key positions in the company,” says Deepak. 

Earthy Tales also runs a Community Wellness Champion (CWC) Program.  Led by one of Earthy Tales’ women leaders, Priyanka Rajbir, the programme enables individuals to become brand advocates for organic living, encouraging their communities to adopt chemical-free food while also building a source of supplementary income. 

Deepak has obtained the prestigious Buddha Fellowship for 2024-26. “Apart from the funding of Rs 10 lakh, I get to meet other social entrepreneurs on similar journeys. What is unique about this fellowship is the access to mentors who have worked in the industry for years and have a vision,” he says.   

Buddha Institute mentor’s advice

Vivek Chandra, Deepak’s mentor from The Buddha Institute and a veteran professional in consumer businesses, especially the marketing of food products, says: “The biggest challenge for Deepak is the higher price of organic food products compared to conventional food. Many consumers know that organic food is good for health, but are unwilling to pay the premium. They feel no pressing need to buy organic. The second challenge is authenticity. Organic  certification given by the government has to be explained to consumers to give them confidence in the products.”

Chandra says the brand has to build trust through simple and authentic communication. “Here, slick advertising will not work. The communication should explain how Deepak is working with organic farmers. Such stories could be publicised using influencers. Referrals and word-of-mouth publicity from consumers are also very effective. Dieticians/nutritionists and doctors could talk about organic food without dramatising the issue. This could be part of the marketing communication,” he explains.

“Some of our eco-friendly initiatives are planting a tree when a customer refers us to a family and taking back empty glass bottles from customers. We will soon start taking back plastic pouches for recycling. We have tied up with an NCR-based recycling plant,” says Deepak.  

(Aruna Raghuram is a freelance journalist based in Bengaluru. She writes about people, environmental matters, parenting, DEI issues, and social/development enterprises.)

Also Read: Tribal farmers grow organic millets and vegetables on once-barren land; income up over three times

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