Ayurveda is one of the world's oldest holistic healing systems which was developed more than 3,000 years ago in India. It's based on the belief that health and wellness depend on a delicate balance between the mind, body, and soul.

Indraneel Chitale, Partner, Chitale Group, and Co-Founder, Herbea, has co-founded Herbea to make Ayurveda more accessible to the world. He is the 4th Generation Partner at the Chitale Group and he is also an active investor with a focus on Tech-enabled HR, Health Foods, Genetics, and Women’s Cricket.  

Dr. Chinmay S. Bhosale, Partner, Herbea is a criminal lawyer with a gold medal and doctorate in law. He is known for his legal acumen to guide businesses into the future. 

Herbea is an endeavor to make Ayurveda more accessible globally in the form of Caffeine Free Herbal Infusions derived from the ancient science of Ayurveda. 

Idea of Herbea

Indraneel explains, “The route towards conceptualizing the idea of Herbea goes to Dr. Chinmay because he introduced me to a common friend of ours, who's basically an ayurvedic doctor and what we were able to determine was a problem statement where he was trying to make iconic products and try to make them more consumer-friendly. So that time we figured out that we can explore the option of making herbal infusions, which can be had just like green tea or herbal tea but are caffeine-free, and that can be packaged in a manner which is highly consumer-friendly, available beyond the medicinal aspect of Ayurveda while delivering the value of all the herbs and ingredients that they actually can deliver those functions. So in that process, we were able to form the brand called Herbea, and as the name suggests, it’s a mixture of herbs, and that rendered into different types of format is what we want to try and achieve with Herbea,” he says.

Goal with Herbea is to make Ayurveda more accessible to the world 

Indraneel sheds light on the subject, “Yes, totally. The way the world is changing right now, and the way the high emphasis on the sustainability aspect is being relied upon by all countries in the world, be the way that climate change is affecting, the way the industrialization is affecting all of these aspects, and there is a lot of thought given into making all of these processes sustainable. And similarly, all of these can become sustainable, if the people who are running it also start living a sustainable lifestyle. So in that process, that is where Ayurveda as a principle comes into the picture, because Ayurveda thrives on the concept of sustainability and something which is about more of a lifestyle, consumption of the product in moderation, rather than more of a reactive medicinal concept that we are used to with the modern medicine. So can Ayurveda come into the mainstream? I'm pretty sure it can. And that is what we want to try and achieve with the startup. And that is where we have to try and bring in the age-old wisdom of Ayurveda, the recipes that have been there, the science behind it, and try and package it into a format, which is more relevant to the modern consumer that we have around us. What we want to try and achieve here is not just to appeal to the Indian consumer, but appeal on a global level, where we can show that sustainable aspect of consumption of Ayurvedic based products that can help enhance your lifestyle,” he says.

Enjoys being a criminal lawyer and an investor

Dr. Chinmayi sheds light on the topic of practicing criminal law but having an interest in the startup space, “Yes, being a day job of being a criminal lawyer, it is difficult to give some time to anything beyond that. But I've always had the knack to try and contribute to businesses as well because that's what I primarily do as a lawyer as well. So in that space, I have been an active investor with quite a few companies, which have done fairly well in the past. And that has been my liking and at the family. And as well, we do manage educational institutes. And that also gives me some headspace around managing institutes and business houses per se, so that with my legal acumen, I do like to have my head around the business angle as well. But thanks to my day job, I can't do it on a regular basis, but I do whatever I can, and as an investor as well, wherever possible, I do pitch in and make my investments,” he says.

Fourth-generation partner at Chitale group

Indraneel talks on being the fourth generation partner at Chitale, “It's a great thing, to be honest because if you look at the statistics of family businesses, that's 2% of the family businesses that actually survive into the fourth generation. I come into that unique bracket of 2% people in the world where we have been able to get a great platform having three generations behind us who have run the business successfully. Along with that, there's also great responsibility and a great legacy that we have to carry. So sometimes it can also be a pressure where we need to be much more deliberate in our actions, how they reflect onto the family business as well. So how do we balance, a legacy that comes along with it, while still being relevant as a family business and appeal to the next generation of consumers, is the paradox that we are always trying to address, and I'm enjoying the role of being in that zone, where, we have been able to do a lot of things right, even after me taking responsibility. So I'm quite happy,” he says.

Creating sustainable products or services

Indraneel throws light on being an investor, an entrepreneur, and what metrics he tracks when considering an investment, “In a lot of business, a lot of emphasis lies on the aspect of sustainability. So the business also needs to grow at an exponential rate, where very often they are not looking at how high their burn rate is or how unique their model of selling is, or how they are going to actually break even and start making a profit out of it. So what I try and focus on as an investor, or as an entrepreneur myself, is that how can we actually be creating products or services, which are something that is sustainable, that definitely create value for the consumer, as well as the supplier and the entire ecosystem around the startup and something that can grow for a longer trajectory, rather than just being short-sighted and playing the valuation. So that is what I try to look after. And that is how most of my investments have been planned around. And so also is my investment into Herbea where I have taken over the responsibility of running it as well,” he says.

(Edited by Rabia Mistry Mulla)