Sandhya and P Siva Kumar are a successful couple who have realised the potential of rice kondattam (fryums/snacks/crisp fries). They stumbled upon this while searching for a venture that could be started with low investment.
Siva Kumar was employed with BPL. When the company closed, he lost his job and income. He entered the business of making rice kondattam on an experimental basis. He started his own venture Amrita Foods in Vadakkethara in Palakkad district.
Beside rice kondattam, they make and sell 10 types of products, including crisp fries with onion, banana shoot, spinach, garlic and tomato as ingredients. They also have the credit of developing an industry with a product that has been used traditionally.
The beginning is simple
The couple initially used the things available at home. For a while, the product was made by drying the ingredients under the sun. It was started in 2005. Both the wife and husband became employees. The maximum production in those days was only 10 kg. They had to make trips of many shops to get orders and make supplies to them.
At first it was very difficult to get an order. Later, they started getting orders easily and their production gradually increased. Now the production is up to 100 kg per day. They have installed dryer machine, roaster machine, pulveriser and other machinery worth Rs 10 lakh. All of these were purchased and installed in phases.
30% subsidy
About 30 per cent of the money spent on setting up the machinery was obtained as a subsidy from the government. Now, the products of Amrita Foods are available at all supermarkets in Palakkad district.
All products are taken and sold by a distribution company. All the products the couple manufactures get instantly sold for ready cash.
They have increased the production capacity and now also have direct sales in Pollachi and Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu. The products are now available online, too.
The average monthly sales are now about Rs 2.5 lakh. The average monthly income is not less than Rs 50,000.
