bigbasket to source 80% of fresh produce directly from farmers by 2017

Stepping ahead to strengthen the supply chain

Helps increase the income of farmers by around 10 to 15% through direct sourcing

Bengaluru, XX November 2016: According to statistics, an average farmer only earns about Rs.
15,422 per annum, much below the national per capita average of Rs. 77,431. Though India is an
agrarian country and takes pride in being the largest producer of agricultural material in the world, it
is ironic that there is an inability in the system to standardize practices for the farmer community.
The government has shown the way forward by allocating a massive Rs. 412 crore from the Union
Budget 2016 towards development and promotion of organic cultivation. Turning this allocation into
opportunity, market leaders like bigbasket are working towards providing the much-needed market
access to farmers.

bigbasket, India’s largest online supermarket with over 3.1 mn-registered customers has carved a
niche for itself by setting up exclusive organic collection centers (CC) across the country. It aims to
not only bring about improvements in market access, fair pricing, aggregating demand and
sustainable skill development but also provide technological support by structuring payment
gateways and logistics at the very grassroots level of the system.

Mr. Hari Menon, Co-founder and CEO, bigbasket.com says, “On an average, we are able to deliver
farm-sourced vegetables to our customers in about 12 hours. Technology integration is likely to play
a major role at the back end in the near future. Foreseeing this, we at bigbasket are planning to
achieve 3000 farmer partnerships providing 45+ types of F&V by the end of 2017. By ensuring
complete transparency in every step, we have created a platform for direct information and material
exchange between the farmer and the consumer, cutting out interference from intermediaries. This
will guarantee instant and profitable pay out to farmers and also ensure safe, fresh, and best quality
of harvest of home goods to consumers at competitive prices.”

bigbasket has retail presence in 30 cities and services a customer base of over 50,000 on a daily
basis. Fruits & Vegetables form a very important & critical part of this business. This category
contributes to over 18% of the overall business for bigbasket. The F&V business at bigbasket has
seen a 10 percent growth on a month on month basis. As part of its effective sourcing strategy,
bigbasket sources 60% of the sales directly from the farmers via the CC. By transforming the supply
chain into a value chain, bigbasket has already brought 1200 farmers and 3000 plus acres of
cultivated land growing over 30
different varieties of fruits and vegetable under its umbrella. Direct sourcing has increased margins
by 6-7% and farmer incomes by 10-15%.

A case in point is that of Swamy, a farmer from Mysore. He is more than happy being associated
with bigbasket as it has given him direct access to the market for the produce from his 3 acres of
land. Other farmers like Swamy are testimony to the profits that bigbasket has helped them earn.
Mahadevappa feels the earnings from his pumpkin and cucumber farming have increased by at least
20% after bigbasket came to his rescue. Another farmer, Basavaraju, from Jayapura village of
Karnataka has been able to cut down on transportation and commission expenses in addition to the
20% premium he gets over the market prices.

Complementing the effect of the collection centers (CC), bigbasket’s very own distribution centers
(DC) equipped with state-of-the-art equipment such as infrared thermostats ensure preservation of
freshness and quality of farm produce. Specifically designed packaging, temperature-controlled
storages, and transport environment ensure there is no compromise on quality at bigbasket.com.

New retail-led agricultural markets are changing the face of services and activities en route from
farm to table. The future holds a lot of promise not only for the farmers but also for the quality-
starved consumers.

- Ends -
About bigbasket.com
bigbasket.com was founded in December 2011 in Bangalore by a team of five – V S Sudhakar, Hari
Menon, Vipul Parekh, V S Ramesh and Abhinay Choudhari. The team has both offline and online
retail experience, as they had earlier set up India’s first e-commerce site FabMart.com in 1999, and
then established the Fabmall-Trinethra chain of more than 200 grocery supermarket stores in
southern India. Servicing over 3.1 mn registered customers; bigbasket has grown into India's largest
online supermarket with over 20,000 products from over 1000 brands and presence in 30 cities
across the country including Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai & Delhi-NCR, with plans
to expand to other cities soon. bigbasket's online food store offers a variety of products across
various categories: Fresh Fruits & Vegetables, Grocery & Staples, Beverages, Bread, Dairy & Egg
products, Branded Foods, Meat, Personal Care and Household products. bigbasket.com is
committed to making life simpler and grocery shopping a breeze!