ReshaMandi, India's first and largest B2B marketplace for Silk, announced that they have successfully improved the incomes of the sericulture farmers by approximately 50%, within just 16 months of commencing their operations. The company has assisted over 1500 farmer families by leveraging ingenious methods of linking the entire silk supply chain in a highly chaotic B2B market space.
Today, cocoon prices are witnessing highest-ever prices of ₹700 to ₹770 per kg-mark. By introducing online interventions for efficiency and digital focussed solutions, ReshaMandi is helping all silk producers match the consumer demand with high-quality products. The company is lowering the cost of silk products for end-users while raising the income levels of families involved in silk manufacturing. In most cases, the majority of the value created in the silk supply chain is distributed amongst middlemen rather than silk producers, but because of ReshaMandi’s approach to being lean, resilient, and fast in operations when compared to the traditional market, it is able to respond to changing market conditions swiftly as opposed to the rest of the market where information spreads very slowly across the board.
Commenting on the rising growth and demand, Utkarsh Apoorva, Co-founder and CBO at ReshaMandi said, “At ReshaMandi, our main objective is to alleviate the partial share of profits that the farmers, weavers and reelers get. The value increments in the silk supply chain are about 2400% which means, for a saree worth Rs.3000, the silk farmers get Rs.125 while the weaver makes only Rs.300 which is extremely low, and that's when we realized the necessity to close the gap and address the issue.
We intend to revolutionize the silk supply chain thereby benefiting the entire ecosystem – from farmers, reelers and weavers to clothing manufacturers and buyers.”
While acknowledging the rise in the costing of silk, he further said, “Our vision is to create a supply chain based on trust and transparency and to ensure that practically all of the income is consumed by the producers. We have sold silk products worth over 60 crores in the last 4 months and the procurement of all silk products has been done at prices that are extremely favorable to the stakeholders - be it farmers, reelers, or weavers.”
ReshaMandi has been supported immensely by the Central Silk Board and the various State Sericulture departments in its efforts to achieve its goals. The company has raised $30M in Series A funding led by Creation Investments. They have engaged with over 10,000 farmers and is working closely with 7500 farmers, 560 reeling plants and 3840 weaving units.
