By Diksha Modi,News18

Copyright news18

What began as a desperate attempt by a teenager to salvage his father’s struggling milk business three decades ago has today grown into a dairy empire valued at nearly Rs 20,000 crore. The extraordinary journey of T Satish Kumar, the founder and managing director of Milky Mist Dairy Foods, is being hailed as one of the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories in the country. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)
Born in a modest farming family near Erode, Tamil Nadu, Satish Kumar discontinued his education after the eighth grade. In 1992, at just 16, he stepped into his father’s shoes when their milk distribution venture faced imminent collapse. At that time, the family owned 20 acres of farmland and supplied around 3,000 litres of milk daily to Bengaluru, a business that fetched little profit. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)
“I realised merely supplying milk wouldn’t sustain us. Something had to change,” Kumar once recalled in an interaction with industry bodies. The turning point came when he noticed a Bengaluru customer using his milk to produce cheese for hotels. With no formal training and in an era without internet tutorials, Kumar began experimenting with crude methods, heating milk with vinegar, to make his first batch of cheese. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)
In 1993, he carried 10 kgs of cheese in a bag to Bengaluru. Within two years, his daily sales had risen to nearly 100 kgs. By 1995, he abandoned the milk trade entirely to focus on cheese production. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)
The dream of building a national brand took shape in 1997. After researching names at a browsing centre, Kumar christened his venture Milky Mist, a label he felt carried no regional or religious bias and was easy to recall. In 1998, with a bank loan of Rs 10 lakh, he set up a semi-automatic cheese plant. Soon, Milky Mist products were on shelves across Chennai, Bengaluru, and Coimbatore. (News18 Hindi)
Over the years, the brand consolidated its place as a household name. In 2007, Milky Mist unveiled its logo, followed by its first television commercial in 2010, firmly positioning itself as synonymous with cheese in India. By 2017, the company inaugurated a fully automated plant in Perundurai, employing over 1,700 people and diversifying into paneer, curd, yogurt, lassi, ghee, cream, and even payasam. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)
Financially, the growth was staggering. From a turnover of Rs 13 crore in 2007-08, Milky Mist touched Rs 750 crore by 2019-20, crossed Rs 1,100 crore in 2020-21, and today stands at an estimated valuation of Rs 20,000 crore. Cheese accounts for about 30 percent of revenue, paneer 27 percent, and yogurt 25 percent. (News18 Hindi)
Crucially, Satish Kumar also transformed the supply chain. By sourcing milk directly from over 55,000 farmers, he eliminated middlemen, ensuring higher returns for producers and fostering rural prosperity. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)
Now 49, Kumar presides over one of India’s largest privately held dairy companies. For many, his journey embodies resilience, innovation, and vision – proof that formal education is no barrier to building a global brand. (News18 Hindi/AI-Generated)