Abhishek Joshi, MD

Since a young age, Abhishek Joshi made regular visits to his uncle - Dr Rajendra Joshi in Switzerland and enjoyed Swiss yoghurts there. Fascinated by the level of expertise the Swiss maintained in producing dairy products, years after, Abhishek conceptualized Rufil. The idea was to replicate Swiss quality and perfection and provide not just the best products in Jaipur or Rajasthan, but the entire country in the years to come. On the other hand, Switzerlandbased Scientist turned entrepreneur Dr Rajendra Kumar Joshi and his wife Mrs Ursula Joshi (RUJ Group) always wanted to do something for the society that can help in the long run. While doing something good for society was their primary concern, soon they found out that there should be something that’s more sustainable. Like one ancient Chinese Proverb which can easily sum-up their philosophy of skilling, which is “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”To put this into practice, they have set up an exemplary business model in Jaipur which comprises of skill training and generating meaningful employment making a self-sustainable business model with

an aim to contribute maximum to community and economy. This marked the beginning of Rufil.

"Rufil houses about 80 direct employees and around 40 contractual employees at present"

While adulteration in milk and dairy products is a major concern throughout India, Rufil has seized this as an opportunity by ensuring that all of its products are 100 per cent safe and without any adulteration right from the source of procurement. The company is well-equipped with an entire automated dairy processing unit where they have implemented ‘zero hand touch’ in milk processing cycle to offer contamination free milk. Rufil also follows 100 per cent BMC model during procurement which means that once the milk is tested for quality then it directly goes to its bulk milk cooler for instant chilling at source. “At the processing plant, we have created separate hygiene zones for workers depending on the product sensitivity. This has helped in producing high quality products consistently,” says Abhishek.

Team Rufil ensures the quality of its milk products through not only robust tests but also by ground level working, conducting regular meetings with farmers to educate them about cleanliness and healthy farming practices. Rufil also conducts regular health check-up camps and artificial insemination campaigns to ensure keeping cattle in good health at all the time.

Sailing against the Wind
Setting footprints in the market and carving a niche especially with already established players present in the market is no less than a

challenge. Being a new entrant in the saturated dairy products market in Rajasthan, Rufil’s primary aim was to create a unique identity to break the clutter. “While the strong local players communicate solely on product merit, we wanted to create a brand preference among the modern, aspirational household. From primary market research in Jaipur, we observed an interesting, constant under current of a mix of traditional and modern values amongst the consumers here. We wanted to capture this dichotomy between the traditional and the modern in a fun and relatable manner so that Rufil, as a modern Indian brand can create a niche for itself in a market populated by competitors embracing either health or indulgence as a primary driver for sales,” Abhishek mentions.

Today, the company has come a long way and houses about 80 direct employees and around 40 contractual employees at present. “In the last 1.5 years, we have added more than 25 distributors for across Jaipur, the Shekhawati belt i.e. Sikar, Jhunjhunu, Churu, Rajgarh and few other parts around Jaipur. We have created a strong retail network based on consumers’ trust in Rufil’s product quality and therefore today we are doing about 10,000 litres per day of sales,” he asserts.

In the coming years, team Rufil is looking towards extending its dealer, distributor network to cover whole Rajasthan. On the procurement front, it envisions adding more Rufil-owned cattle farms, taking better care of its farmers.