Vishwas Chitale ,CEO and CTO, Chitale Group on Technology and Redefining Dairy Farming in India

Pune based Chitale Dairy’s belief that dairy farming can be converted into an industry, and not restricted to small units in villages has surely come true under the progressive leadership of Vishwas Chitale. From RFIDs usages, Business intelligence, Mobile technology,Cloud Computing, Vishwas has used everything to bring a paradigm shift in the way dairy farming is done in India.Studies conducted by Chitale Dairy clearly emphasised the need for high merit pedigreed bulls, for production performance. And today they have established Asia’s Ultra Modern Buffalo Research & Development farm, Nursery for calf breeding, Frozen Semen Laboratory, Blood Profile & Pathogenic Lab. Installed with automatic feeding stations, The Buffalo Farm is a feather in Chitale’s cap and a pioneering effort in the dairy sector. YourStory brings to you an exclusive interaction with the man at the helm who is ushering these changes, Vishwas Chitale

YourStory: Please tell us about your growth in the recent times?

Vishwas: Chitale was started by my grandfather in the 1940s, I joined the business 20 years back.

I have done my engineering in Electronics, and I wanted to go to the US for further studies. Most of my friends had done so but my father asked me to stay back and told me that we should be able to create the same infrastructure and create the same amount of wealth as a job in the US would have. He believed that we need opportunity in India for Indians and develop an indigenous infrastructure especially pertaining to agriculture.His words remained with me.

Chitale has seen a growth of 5 times in the recent years. We were able to achieve this by scaling up our operations massively. We have created a robust ecosystem of farmers and producers and that has helped the dairy and the company to grow many folds. We have also leveraged technology to increase the productivity level per farmer in our area.

YourStory: Chitale Group is diversified into various categories.Which all areas do you operate in?

Vishwas : Yes we have diversified and aim to be present in the various value chains of rural India and create a strong rural infrastructure in the process.We are into dairy products, seeds, foods and genetics for the rural sector.

YourStory: Chitale Group is a success story as far as implementation of technology in agri business is concerned. Please tell us about this?

Vishwas: As I said before technology and IT have played a big role in taking us where we are today. Having so many divisions within the company, and each one relying on the other for smooth functioning we have to ensure technology is top notch throughout the year. Here I will give due credit to the affordable virtualization technology from Del, which has been instrumental in our smooth and effective IT operations.

Chitale Diary keeps up with increased production demands by a Dell Virtualization Solution. High-powered Dell PowerEdge Servers, based on the Intel Xeon Processor Series, provide productive and efficient enterprise flexibility for increased loads. This is complimented by Dell EqualLogic Storage devices, which provide scale-out expansion using high-speed. The Dell solution enables Chitale to manage business growth with lower operating costs and high performance.

YourStory: What excites you about the job you do?

Vishwas: Soon after college I joined Chitale and it has been a love story with the venture thereon. I love working in this industry, working with the farmer community and adding my bit to the entire eco system. It is a very rewarding and fulfilling experience as I work in a sector where I get to leverage technology to help rural masses who have been left out of the technological progress we have seen in the cities.You have to be present in this eco system to realize how technology makes so much of difference here.

For example, we run a call center where farmers can call and get information and resources that makes their lives so much easier.

We have actively embraced initiatives to promote green and sustainable living. We have used renewable sources of energy where ever possible. We have wind mills and solar heat generators meeting the energy needs of our processes.

YourStory :Going ahead what are your plans?

Vishwas: We want to diversify by getting into different areas of food processing. We also want to grow the market for our dairy products like cheese and paneer. We are expanding our product portfolio.

Vishwas Chitale is a man of action and also an intrapreneur with a vision to not only change his company but also the landscape of Indian dairy farming. He has definitely ushered in a new era in the Indian dairy farming industry and we at YourStory wish him all the best.

To know more about Vishwas Chitale log on to www.dell.co.in/takeyourownpath

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