Nutrihub leverages the expertise and facilities of ICAR-IIMR to drive research and innovation across the millet value chain
If you’ve bought a millet biscuit packet or any other millet-based product from a retail store anywhere in the country, the manufacturer is probably linked to Nutrihub in Hyderabad in one way or the other.
It has so far nurtured over 500 millet start-ups, which have raised an aggregate of ₹1,000 crore in various funding rounds, triggering a consumption demand in the country.
Set up over six years ago at the Indian Institute of Millet Research’s Hyderabad campus as a technology business incubator with the help of the Department of Science and Technology, Nutrihub focused on the consumption side of millets, which is a step further to the institute’s mandate of focusing on the production side.
“Unless you create consumption opportunities and the right product to suit those occasions, it is difficult to promote the consumption of millets. It is seen as a last-mile connection between the producer and consumer,” B Dayakar Rao, founder-CEO of Nutrihub and a senior scientist with the IIMR, told businessline.
After experimenting with its brand ‘Eatrite’, Nutrihub has decided to groom start-ups that intend to build products around millets. It tapped about 80 technologies developed by the institute over a period of time to help start-ups develop value-added millet products.
“We employ a 360-degree approach to support the entire millet value chain, covering various stages from research and innovation, networking to market positioning,” Dayakar Rao said.
Nutrihub leverages the expertise and facilities of ICAR-IIMR to drive research and innovation across the millet value chain. This includes basic science studies on millets, cultivar-based studies, development of new processing technologies and machinery, retrofitting existing equipment for efficiency, shelf-life studies, and extensive recipe development.
The incubator supports the initial stages of the value chain by focusing on farmers and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). A critical component of Nutrihub’s support is the ‘Common Facility Center (CFC)’. This centre is equipped with machinery for primary and secondary processing techniques like cleaning, grading, destoning, dehulling, milling, flaking, puffing, extrusion, baking, and packaging.
“The incubating start-ups can experiment with this machinery for a full year and work on their product roadmap. Start-ups can do everything from sourcing grain to packaging at the facility. All they need to spend is a nominal user charges for utilising the infrastructure,” he said.
This shared-use model allows start-ups and small-scale entrepreneurs to access advanced processing technologies without significant upfront investment, lowering entry barriers.
Bharat Reddy, found of Millet Marvels and a cardiologist-cum-actor, recollected his days when he initially got the idea of starting an eatery to promote millet food about five years ago.
“There are not many takers in the community. Then, someone told me about this exclusive incubator for millets. I went there and got good hand-holding to start my venture, Millet Marvels,” said Reddy.
After consolidating the cuisine and standardised the outlet format, Millet Marvels is in the process of expanding its network from the present seven outlets.
“It helped me in product diversification and getting the right linkages to the market. Why, I could even meet the Prime Minister through the platform,” said Raju Bhupati, a serial entrepreneur and Founder-CEO of TrooGood, the country’s biggest millet chikki manufacturer.
“Nutrihub connected us with entities like TSRTC (Telangana State Road Transport Corporation) and IRCTC,” he said.
The food start-up, which clocked a revenue of ₹80 crore in 2024-25, is currently at the annual run rate of ₹180 crore.
Dayakar Rao, however, said that not all start-ups that were incubated at Nutrihub survived. “About 40 per cent of them couldn’t survive. The mortality rate among start-ups is as high as 90 per cent,” he reminded.
Published on May 22, 2025
Nutrihub leverages the expertise and facilities of ICAR-IIMR to drive research and innovation across the millet value chain
If you’ve bought a millet biscuit packet or any other millet-based product from a retail store anywhere in the country, the manufacturer is probably linked to Nutrihub in Hyderabad in one way or the other.
It has so far nurtured over 500 millet start-ups, which have raised an aggregate of ₹1,000 crore in various funding rounds, triggering a consumption demand in the country.
Set up over six years ago at the Indian Institute of Millet Research’s Hyderabad campus as a technology business incubator with the help of the Department of Science and Technology, Nutrihub focused on the consumption side of millets, which is a step further to the institute’s mandate of focusing on the production side.
“Unless you create consumption opportunities and the right product to suit those occasions, it is difficult to promote the consumption of millets. It is seen as a last-mile connection between the producer and consumer,” B Dayakar Rao, founder-CEO of Nutrihub and a senior scientist with the IIMR, told businessline.
After experimenting with its brand ‘Eatrite’, Nutrihub has decided to groom start-ups that intend to build products around millets. It tapped about 80 technologies developed by the institute over a period of time to help start-ups develop value-added millet products.
“We employ a 360-degree approach to support the entire millet value chain, covering various stages from research and innovation, networking to market positioning,” Dayakar Rao said.
Nutrihub leverages the expertise and facilities of ICAR-IIMR to drive research and innovation across the millet value chain. This includes basic science studies on millets, cultivar-based studies, development of new processing technologies and machinery, retrofitting existing equipment for efficiency, shelf-life studies, and extensive recipe development.
The incubator supports the initial stages of the value chain by focusing on farmers and Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs). A critical component of Nutrihub’s support is the ‘Common Facility Center (CFC)’. This centre is equipped with machinery for primary and secondary processing techniques like cleaning, grading, destoning, dehulling, milling, flaking, puffing, extrusion, baking, and packaging.
“The incubating start-ups can experiment with this machinery for a full year and work on their product roadmap. Start-ups can do everything from sourcing grain to packaging at the facility. All they need to spend is a nominal user charges for utilising the infrastructure,” he said.
This shared-use model allows start-ups and small-scale entrepreneurs to access advanced processing technologies without significant upfront investment, lowering entry barriers.
Bharat Reddy, found of Millet Marvels and a cardiologist-cum-actor, recollected his days when he initially got the idea of starting an eatery to promote millet food about five years ago.
“There are not many takers in the community. Then, someone told me about this exclusive incubator for millets. I went there and got good hand-holding to start my venture, Millet Marvels,” said Reddy.
After consolidating the cuisine and standardised the outlet format, Millet Marvels is in the process of expanding its network from the present seven outlets.
“It helped me in product diversification and getting the right linkages to the market. Why, I could even meet the Prime Minister through the platform,” said Raju Bhupati, a serial entrepreneur and Founder-CEO of TrooGood, the country’s biggest millet chikki manufacturer.
“Nutrihub connected us with entities like TSRTC (Telangana State Road Transport Corporation) and IRCTC,” he said.
The food start-up, which clocked a revenue of ₹80 crore in 2024-25, is currently at the annual run rate of ₹180 crore.
Dayakar Rao, however, said that not all start-ups that were incubated at Nutrihub survived. “About 40 per cent of them couldn’t survive. The mortality rate among start-ups is as high as 90 per cent,” he reminded.
Published on May 22, 2025
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The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution of letters, as opposed to using ‘Content here, content here’, making
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It is a long established fact that a reader will be distracted by the readable content of a page when looking at its layout. The point of using Lorem Ipsum is that it has a more-or-less normal distribution
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