Bangalore, India: In this generation the craze of organic food is everywhere, and every day a new organic brand is coming up in the market. However, majority of them fail to keep up with the expectations of the loyal consumers. At that moment, Bangalore’s IT director Advith addressed this issue by launching Pahadi Aura, a premium brand that produces A2 ghee using the traditional Bilona Method. Actually Advith Shetty went back to his roots in search of authenticity and decided to bring the pure A2 ghee straight from the milk of pahadi cows, specifically the Gauri Cow which is a rare indigenous breed found in Himalayas.
The Indian organic market is huge and has experienced a fast expansion in the last decade as more and more people are becoming health conscious. Although many brands market their products as organic or A2 they fail to meet the standards which confuses consumers even more. ‘Pahadi Aura is not just any other organic food brand but it is a brand that will win the trust of common people’, mentioned Pahadi Aura’s founder Advith Shetty.
Journey Back to Roots
Advith Shetty had a bright journey as an entrepreneur and worked as an IT director in Bangalore. Amidst everyday race to achieve ambition he felt something was missing until the day he visited Shimla to meet a friend who served him a meal with pure Pahadi ghee. This was when he realised what he was missing out in the hustle and bustle of city life, it was the taste of purity.
This realization provoked him to join hands with his friend Mridul Chauhan, the co-founder of Pahadi Aura and create a brand of purity. In his trip to meet his friend, Advith observed that in Pahadi regions there were age-old practices of cow rearing and grazing and people still used the traditional Bilona method for ghee extraction. The bilona method is the process where milk is first cultured and then from the curd, white butter or makkan is separated through a labor intensive process. Although this began as a personal experience, soon he decided to bring this authentic A2 ghee to consumers and that gave birth to the premium brand, Pahadi Aura’.
How is Pahadi Aura different from other brands?
Pahadi Aura’s base is authenticity, so it sources milk directly from Pahadi cows that graze in grasses and are raised in high altitude regions with minimal pollution. The big brands focus on mass production so they use cream based or machine intensive processes for separating ghee from the cream. Whereas Pahadi Aura goes against this process and follows Bilona method where curd is hand churned to extract white butter. Further in large vessels this butter is slowly simmered to produce ghee. When ghee is produced through Bilona method, the healthy fats and fat soluble vitamins in the ghee are more and it also ensures better digestibility.
What makes Pahadi Aura, a premium D2C brand?
Currently the Indian food market is a fast growing D2C market and Pahadi Aura fits well because of its digital approach and direct consumer engagement. Pahadi Aura has adopted a model where quality is the main priority. Beyond that it has maintained strict control over pricing and customer education. The focus is also kept on obtaining customer feedback and making decisions that are data driven and offer scalable economics.
Pahadi Aura: A Business with a Purpose
Pahadi Aura focuses on sustainability and authenticity beyond profitability. It collaborates directly with local farmers and traditional dairy practitioners to ensure fair compensation and maintain the traditional practices. It can be said that Pahadi Aura is that place which is an intersection of tradition and technology and is on the way to become a brand name that gains premium valuation because of its authenticity. Learn More about our story.
Future Roadmap
Pahadi Aura has a bigger perspective in future which includes further portfolio expansion into other traditional, authentic Himalayan products. While scaling, the core of the brand will remain unchanged, where trusted, authentic products will always be the first priority.