In 1975, a 17-year-old boy, the son of a farmer, started selling milk outside the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) to earn money for his education. Today, that same boy is the owner of Red Cow Dairy, a company with a yearly turnover of over Rs 800 crore. Meet Narayan Majumdar, whose inspiring journey serves as a lesson for those seeking to create a legacy.
Narayan Majumdar’s journey began with a meager salary of Rs 3 earned from selling milk. Today, he is the founder of Red Cow Dairy, a company with a yearly turnover of over Rs 800 crore. In addition to milk, the company produces various dairy products like ghee, dahi, rasgulla, etc. Read on to know more about his inspiring story.
Narayan Majumdar was born in Nadiya district, West Bengal. His father was a farmer, and he attended a village school. In 1975, he enrolled in NDRI, but the course fee of Rs 250 was a challenge for him. To finance his studies, he started a part-time milk business, selling from 5 am to 7 am. With a scholarship of Rs 100 and Rs 100 from his father, he completed his education, but his family had to sell their agricultural land to support him.
Following his education, Narayan Majumdar worked as a dairy chemist at Quality Ice Cream in Kolkata, earning a salary slightly above Rs 600. His daily routine would commence at 4 am and conclude at 11 pm.
He then landed a job at Himalayan Cooperative in Siliguri, where he crossed paths with Dr Jagjeet Punjarth, who was a manager at Mother Dairy. In 1981, he began working at Mother Dairy and in 1995, he rose to become the general manager of a company in Howrah.
In 1999, Narayan Majumdar established his own chilling plant with an investment of Rs 10 lakh. The following year, he acquired his company’s chilling unit and purchased a milk tanker. He also started a business with his wife and eventually founded Red Cow Dairy in 2003.
Narayan Majumdar continued to innovate and expand his business. In 2007, he partnered with Kolkata Dairy and also introduced a poly pouch packaging. Currently, his company has three production factories.
His company employs 1000 people and operates across 12 districts in Bengal. With over 3 lakh farmers linked to the company, it has helped them earn a livelihood.
The company has a daily production of 400,000 liters of milk and operates 35 milk chilling plants along with 400 distributors.
Initially, he used to gather milk on his bicycle, going from door to door every day to collect it.
Until 2005, he continued to work as a consultant general manager with Thacker Dairy Products Pvt. Ltd in Kolkata.
The son of Narayan Majumdar has joined him in the business and holds an MBA degree from Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS). The company used to produce 32,000 litres of milk per day when he joined, but now they produce 4 lakh litres per day.
