Guwahati: At a time when the Indian government is touting startups as engines of economic growth and regional development, the reality in Assam paints a starkly different picture.
In an exclusive interview with Pankhi Sarma of Business North East (BNE), a politician-turned-entrepreneur, Prodyut Bora, who is now the founder of Bonphul Foods- an integrated aquaculture company lays bare the systemic flaws in Assam’s startup investment ecosystem, while chronicling his own transition from politics to profit-making — a shift he frames not as a pivot, but a parallel track.
A $1 Million Idea—But Where’s the Capital in Assam?
Founded by Bora- an alumnus of IIM Ahmedabad in 2022 and incubated by India Accelerator—which picked up a 10% stake for $100,000—Bonphul Foods was valued at $1 million before generating a single rupee in revenue.
"We hadn’t even earned a single rupee yet, and still the valuation was $1 million. That’s what a well-articulated, scalable idea can do," Bora explained.
Bonphul Foods operates several brands under its umbrella, each addressing different facets of the food and wellness sectors such as Biofly, Minbury and, Alp Harvest.
Under its Minbury brand, Bonphul has onboarded over 100 farmers from within a 50-kilometre radius of Guwahati—including areas like Dakshin Kamrup, Morigaon, Hojai, and Barpeta—ensuring local sourcing and building decentralized procurement capacity. Importantly, Bora emphasizes that fishing remains a highly unorganized industry in Assam, limiting scalability and integration unless startups step in with structured solutions.
An Arid Landscape for Capital: “The Ground Reality:
But despite this head-start, Bora offers a candid critique of the region’s broken funding architecture. “Startup investment climate is terrible here,” he says, unflinchingly.
Citing hard numbers, Bora flagged, “NEDFi Venture Capital has had zero money to invest in the past two years. SIDBI Venture Capital made just one investment from the ₹100 crore agri-fund in 2021. Four years later—still nothing,” he says.
“Angel cheques of ₹1–3 lakh are meaningless. Venture-scale ideas need venture-scale capital.” Bora said during the interview with Business North East.
Bora argued that execution, not policy, is the real failure. Startups solving real problems are overlooked, while funds chase low-impact ventures.
He cited how Caspian Equity exited the region due to bureaucratic hurdles—a case he personally flagged to Union Minister Piyush Goyal. Even Assam’s own startup fund, he claims, remains structurally unfit to support high-growth enterprises.
“We don’t need more policies. We need the ones we have to work.”
Revenue, Growth, and the Road Ahead: Bonphul’s Business Metrics
While funding remains elusive, Bonphul Foods has quietly achieved what many early-stage startups struggle with—profitability and strategic clarity. “We broke even at ₹20 lakh/month in just 18 months, hit EBITDA positive in year two, and PAT positive in year three,” says founder Prodyut Bora, attributing the lean growth to an obsessive focus on customer satisfaction.
Now, with a 25-member agile team, Bonphul is charting a controlled but ambitious expansion. It has begun retail operations and is moving toward full-stack integration—starting fish production and feed manufacturing in Odisha, bypassing Assam’s infrastructural limitations.
“Assam lacks large commercial water bodies; Odisha makes more sense,” Bora explains.
The roadmap is clear: own the entire fish value chain, grow into a pan-India non-veg retail player, and eventually aim for global leadership in aquaculture. “Fish is eaten across the world. This isn’t a regional story—it’s a global ambition,” he asserts.
Customer Feedback to Portfolio Pivot
What started as a fish-only direct-to-doorstep delivery platform soon diversified into a full-fledged non-vegetarian supply chain based on customer’s responses. “Customers told us, ‘We don't eat fish every day; why not give us other meats too?’ That feedback drove us to expand,” Bora shared.
Bonphul now offers a range of protein options, including local and broiler chicken, mutton, seafood, and eggs with a parallel entry into vegetarian segment via traditional rice varieties from upper Assam and mustard oil from Majuli. Currently, its operations are limited to Guwahati, but there are future plans to expand into other Northeast state capitals, contingent on funding and logistical feasibility. “Each growth decision—whether logistics, tech, or procurement—boils down to a clear build-vs-outsource analysis, But our model is built for modular, scalable growth,” Bora explains.
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Cold Storage is Not the Bottleneck
Dismissing concerns about infrastructure, Bora clarified that Assam has sufficient cold storage facilities, albeit with varying capacities and temperature specializations. “Whether it's for potatoes, seafood, or apples, different products need different settings. But cold storage itself is not a bottleneck in Guwahati,” he stated.
Bonphul’s own 2,500 sq. ft. cold storage facility in Lokhra, dedicated to Minbury’s perishables, ensures uninterrupted inventory control and local freshness.
Mega Food Parks: Infrastructure without Ecosystem
Bora raised questions about the actual impact of mega food parks in Barpeta and Sualkuchi. “Who are occupying these food parks? Not Assamese entrepreneurs,” he said. “If outsiders are reaping the benefits, how has Assam actually gained?”
He pointed out that these facilities exist in silos, lacking a surrounding support system—be it in terms of capital access, skill deployment, or regional entrepreneur development. “The government is very good at laying concrete, but not at building ecosystems,” Bora remarked.
Bonphul’s BSE Dream
With steady growth, Bonphul is setting its sights on the Bombay Stock Exchange. The company is now clocking ₹35 lakh monthly revenue with ₹3–4 lakh in net profit, and serving around 400 regular customers. But the bigger ambition is yet to unfold.
“There’s not a single private sector SME from Assam listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange. We want to be the first,” Bora said.
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While that goal is still distant, his immediate focus is on capturing the Northeast’s aquaculture market, followed by national scale, and eventually, global presence.
The Road Ahead: Startups Need Capital, Not Slogans
Despite navigating a market riddled with logistical friction and capital inaccessibility, Bonphul Foods isn’t chasing expansion headlines—it’s focused on fortifying Guwahati operations before considering growth to Shillong or Itanagar. “One delivery at a time,” as founder Bora puts it.
But the larger picture remains unchanged: Assam’s food startup ecosystem is choking on capital deficits and institutional inertia. The state's structural inability to move beyond policy optics toward real execution continues to paralyze scalable businesses. Entrepreneurs are building EBITDA-positive models with zero ecosystem support, while funds lie dormant and public agencies evade accountability.
“We’re not asking for freebies. We’re asking for functional systems,” Bora states. Until capital access, investor trust, and operational infrastructure are fixed, Assam will keep losing its startups to cities that offer more than slogans.
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