Livestock (AnimStok) contributes 40% value of total agricultural output globally, as per the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and nearly 1.3 billion people depend on it for their livelihood and food and nutrition security. Moreover, it is the primary source of income and food security for over 20 million people in India. Despite these facts, it’s unfortunate to say that the sector is highly unorganised in our country which is the biggest hurdle in terms of price transparency and quality standard.
“There was a huge need to take an initiative so that a disparity could be mitigated. Hence, we have taken a step to connect people from the root level as this unorganised sector needs a rein,” said Karishma Dagar, co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer at AnimStok, an e-commerce platform focused on livestock sector needs.
AnimStock — a platform for all
AnimStok is a B2B (business to business), B2C (business to consumer) and C2C (consumer to consumer) e-commerce platform and aims to integrate the livestock economy can cater to the people who are engaged in it, said Dagar, adding that it’s a 360-degree platform where people get almost everything they want, for instance, live animals, row and ready products as well as feed for their cattle.
The online platform, registered under the government’s ambitious Start-up India program, serves in total of 15 categories including livestock, dairy, feed, poultry, meat, fishery, pets, veterinary, equine, leather, animal infrastructure, animal art, animal sports and fairs.
Talking about the idea behind the start-up, the CMO said, “We all three co-founders have been attached to the animals anyhow in the past. We had a dairy at our home while CEO Bhaskar Pathak has spent a number of years on horse farms as well as CTO Ashish Kumar Gupta is a pet lover. So, after spending years in that atmosphere you get to know many positive and negative things, and we also found the same. We found the sector is highly unorganised and lacks transparency despite a whopping number of people engaged in it, there is no employment guarantee also. All these and many other aspects inspired us to take the initiative.
The idea got recognised under the Start-up India program in 2019 and the research work and internal preparations were going on. Finally, the company is ready for a formal launch this year. “With the kick-off, we’ll target at least one crore people in the first round and will widen our reach in a minimum span of time,” she said.
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This is an “open for all” platform where anybody, from an established brand to a local vendor, can register and sell their services and products with the advantage of a “zero” joining fee, she added.
The sector contributes 11% to the gross domestic product (GDP) and 25.6% of the total Agriculture GDP. As per 2021-22 data, the global animal economy size is $3.7 trillion while in India its $400 billion. India tops the world in terms of milk production with 24% share, at second place in fish production with 7.6% global share, number third in egg production and comes at eighth place in meat production. Also, at the Indian Dairy Association’s (IDA) 49th Dairy Industry Conference in Gandhinagar, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that we (India) must strive to become the world’s biggest dairy exporter and expressed the need for a second “White Revolution”. Hence, this is the right time to hit the market, she concluded.
