“IIT Alumni transforms western catering and brings wealth to Indian country side.”
Hampi Products, is an Indo-Dutch enterprise, founded by Vikram Reddy Kandula, an IIT Delhi Alumni. Incorporated in Amsterdam and Coimbatore, they produce plates from naturally shed leaves of the areca tree in southern India and distribute them across Europe.

“I found these beautiful plates made from leaves being used at a wedding while on a trip to Coimbatore in 2007. On enquiring further, I found that these plates were made in an absolutely chemical free process and by small micro enterprises in rural Tamil Nadu.

I showed them to a close Dutch friend to see if we could sell them in Netherlands. We knew that the market for Green products was growing and started studying the Dutch catering market together. We found that the plates received good feedback from caterers, who were looking for ecofriendly disposable options, but also received skepticism from diners once they heard they were from India. Since India is usually associated with cheap quality, dirt and child labor, they didnt want their food served on these plates” says Vikram.

He adds, “What we realised is that we had to take a through and through Indian product, like a disposable areca plate which had been used for over 25 years in rural India and make it palatable for western consumers. We hired a Dutch Industrial designer who created an organic design for these geometrical plates and a graphic designer to create communication material. The elegant designs, coupled with western form of communication, listening to what consumers really wanted helped us to create a trend here. we started by replacing cheap and harmful plastic plates from catering, and now we are replacing porcelains as Hampi plates offers better intangible value.

Now we distribute Hampi plates across Netherlands, Italy, France and have distributors from other countries interested”.

Hampi Products takes the principles of 3P, People-planet-profit and integrates it with good design. A lot of times, in western markets we see green products which are expensive and have bad quality. Their only selling point is that they are green or help some poor community in developing world, but this is not going to last as consumers always start to demand better value. Hampi products intends to explore more indigenous products, such as the banana leaves or tender coconuts; redesign for western markets and take them Global. Their products are functional, cool, sustainable and incidentally bring wealth to poor communities. With the tremendous competition at price levels from China, Hampi products believes that introducing Indian products at the high end of the value chain, with help of good design and proper communication, is the only sustainable option.

Vikram Reddy Kandula is a B.Tech from IIT Delhi 2003. He also worked as the secretary of the IIT DAA Bombay chapter, succeeding the Late Usman Millwalla in 2006-2007. He now lives in Amsterdam and travels frequently to India. If you need further information, please check the website www.hampiproducts.com and write to him at vikram@hampiproducts.com