Aastha Dusad has completed her Master’s in Business and Managerial Economics from SS Jain Subodh PG College and has done a Diploma in Economics from the Indian School of Business and Finance. Along with Rahul Gautam and Rohit Bafna, she has co-founded MEDdelivery.

About MEDdelivery 

Aastha begins, “MEDdelivery in simple words is a venture that empowers local brick and mortar pharmacies. This is done by managing their daily hyperlocal wholesale procurements. Today a lot of focus is paid on D2C platforms but more than 90% of the medicines are being serviced by such hyperlocal retailers. We found this big gap in this highly fragmented local supply chain. Over months of research and meetings with 100s of retailers and with people from distribution, we launched MEDdeivery.”

“Today on MEDdelivery any retailer can search and procure their requirements and we take care of the rest. From getting the procurement from the centralised market to delivering it to them. All this with an option of real-time tracking. This platform enables them to also process their sales and expiry returns just by a tap of the button. Our platform has not only helped these retailers save time and cost but has also helped them gain customer retention and reduce their prescription dropoffs.”

 “We are democratising the access to information about the entire range of products available at the hyperlocal markets. This is our catalogue for all the network of retailers. That is also why we have the highest number of items in our catalogue.” 

MEDdelivery’s USP

Aastha says, “We are a very hyperlocal driven platform. We are very collaborative in nature. We don’t disturb the local distributor’s or retailer’s market. The platform is built on collaboration, shared economy and efficiency. With the launch of our platform Medit-Credit, we help retailers get 100% credit on 100% of their procurement ordered from our platform. This is currently non-existent in the market.”

MEDdelivery’s Funds

Aastha explains, “Most of the funds have been utilised to scale up the team, develop the product and for geographical expansion.”

MEDdelivery’s Expansion Plans

Aastha says, “We definitely plan to venture out of Rajasthan. Currently, we are operating in 4 tier 2 and tier 3 cities and 10 tier 4 cities. Now we plan to move outside Rajasthan into other cities.”

MEDdelivery’s Revenue

Aastha mentions, “The various strength we have built in FY21 would be repeat cohorts of 80% with 260% growth. We are running on 75+ crores of annualised GMV run rate. Next year we are planning to cross 250 crores.”

MEDdelivery’s Logo

Aastha explains, “We are trying to show medicines and care through our logo. So we are bringing care to the people who are bringing medicines to the consumers. Like caring for the pharmacies.”

Strength of Local Pharmacies

In India, there is only 1 pharmacy for every 1800 patients. The numbers are more skewed in the rural section of India. Astha adds, “The local pharmacies are operating in a very powerful setup. In every nook and corner of the city, you'll be able to find a shop. Which are the most go-to places for any consumer. Once we empower them it would be a game-changer.”

MEDdelivery’s Goals

Aastha mentions, “We have very aggressive plans for next year. We want to enter 20 cities. Cover 50 more tier 4 towns. We want to grow our platform Medit-Credit by 10x. This will help retailers work on zero capital. We also want to penetrate deeper into the existing territories we have along with expanding into new geographies. We also want to stack this end-to-end procurement.”

Advice for fellow Women entrepreneurs

Aastha advises, “Now is a good time and everything will fall in place. Just do it and keep doing it. One thing I keep telling people who think entrepreneurship is very risky and the success rate is very low is that it is all just an entrepreneur phase. Only when you believe you are losing is when you actually lose. Otherwise, nothing is a downside. It would be a very fun ride. It’s not about trying. It's about keeping your spirits high and never giving up. And you will achieve whatever you want to achieve.”

Facts about India’s local pharmacies

An IBEF research study claims that the total medicines traded annually in India are worth around $20 billion. Of which 90% is run by standalone pharmacies. Such locally-run pharmacies dominate the non-metro cities of India and have a strong presence and footfall in that area. Yet they face huge gaps due to the fragmented supply chain. It takes a lot of time to deliver essential life-saving medicines to these shops. To solve this issue MEDdelivery was launched.

(Edited by Priyal Shah)