He returned from Singapore to realise his dream back home
Deepak Gupta left behind the comforts of his promising international career in Singapore to pursue his dream back home. He says he is a happy man now.
Gupta, who spent nearly 30 years in Singapore working at a global company connecting the food chain system after completing studies at DAV College in Chandigarh, wanted to set up a technology-enabled modern dairy farm in Punjab.
Two years after his return from Singapore, he has achieved his objective by setting up the Himalayan Creamery in Nabha, a historic city in Patiala district about a two-hour drive from Chandigarh.
Gupta, 54, says he does not regret taking the plunge into entrepreneurship. Why would he? He has set up the dairy farm over a 20-acre plot and it now has 350 Holstein Friesian and Jersey cows. Nearly 200 cows are milked in a herringbone parlour at the farm.
The milk is not touched by hand, is pasteurized and packed on the farm under the brand name “Himalayan Creamery”. “I had a strong desire of providing pure un-adulterated milk to consumers. It’s nothing new and quite common to see ‘farm to table’ dairy businesses around the world which customers love,” Gupta said.
“The idea first took root on my visits to India while I was still working (in Singapore). I would read stories about adulteration and contamination of milk and would see my friends and family making a lot of effort to secure a reliable supply of fresh milk, sometimes relying on a local milk vendor,” he said.
Having gained understanding of the agriculture sector because of his years spent at the food chain system firm in Singapore, Gupta said: “I began to consider my dream of setting up a dairy farm in India to be able to market fresh milk to customers directly from our farm.”