Patels Mart Legacy: No doubt many people migrate from Indian villages to their dream city, Mumbai. Dhanji Patel, the son of a farmer, was one of them.
Dhanji Patel, after four decades, runs a retail company named Patel Retail Pvt. Ltd. It exports and sells FMCG, groceries, clothing, and other supplies. The revenue of this company is Rs. 1000 crore or more.
About Dhanji Patel
Dhanji, 55 years old, belongs to Dudhai village in Kachchh, Gujarat. His father was a farmer. Dhanji passed until 8th grade and later moved to Ambernath, where his brother also used to work in 1984. Later, Dhanji joined as a worker and started earning Rs. 100–150 at the age of 16.
However, in 1990, he and his brother invested around Rs. 25, 000 and opened a grocery store in Ambernath under the name of Patel Enterprises. After the success of the store, they wanted to expand the business. In 2004, he opened his initial supermarket in Ambernath and started selling food-related products.
It was named Patel’s R Mart, with a range of groceries, clothing, home supplies, etc. After its success, he added two vertices: export and food processing.
In 2016, he set up a factory in Dudhai, and in 2019, one more factory was set up. Patel Retail is a 4-star export house exporting various products in 25+ countries, including Europe, the Middle East, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
Also, Patel Retail Pvt. Ltd. has various subbrands like Indian Chaska, Patel Essential, etc.
Patel R. Mart during pandemic times
During the pandemic, Dhanji acted as a blessing in disguise. He launched a phone app called Patel R Mart, from which people can easily place an order for groceries with a free home delivery option.
However, Dhanji has 31 supermarkets in the suburbs of Mumbai. Also, in the 2022–23 financial year, their business managed to get around Rs. 1000 crore in revenue. The company is growing and is planning to expand into more retail stores. It is the second generation that is managing the Patel business now.
How does Dhanji affect the lives of farmers?
Via the Patel Retail business, Dhanji is impacting the lives of more than 3000 farmers. Various food grains and groceries that are available at Patel Retail are sourced directly from Indian farmers. Also, farmers are paid a good price. The Indian farmers are even given knowledge of better and improved farming and trading methods.
