'I got bored': Indian CEO quits high-salary Microsoft job in US to launch startup for farmers

Ruchit Garg had been working with Microsoft in Hyderabad for three years when he was shifted to the company's headquarters in Redmond where he worked as a technical programme manager for three more years before quitting in 2011 to return to India and launch a startup for farmers. He was earning about Rs 1 crore per annum when he left the job.

"I got bored," the 44-year-old told Moneycontrol. "I felt like a misfit there. I always wanted to run a business, and I had dabbled a bit in entrepreneurship in 2004 when the startup craze hadn't started yet. In 2011, when I saw them mushrooming in the US, I decided to get back in the game again."

Ruchit Garg (front line, centre) with his colleagues at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. (Image credit: Moneycontrol)

He then went on to launch Harvesting -- a company aimed at selling fresh farm produce and getting farmers better deals by cutting off intermediaries. The company claims to have benefitted more than 37 lakh farmers in India.

When asked why he chose to move to the agricultural sector, Garg said, "My grandfather was a farmer in a village near Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh. He had a mango farm. So, I wanted to do something meaningful surrounding agriculture. Now, Harvesting helps small-holder farmers make more money. You can think of it like next-generation Amul. We help farmers with anything they need to grow their crops such as advisory, seeds, pesticides, etc., and help them sell their produce online and offline."

Ruchit Garg (bottom right) with his grandparents in Moradabad, Uttar Pradesh. (Image credit: Moneycontrol)

Interestingly, Garg's interest in entrepreneurship developed while reading Harvard Business Review at the Indian Railways library in Lucknow where his mother was a clerk. Having lost his father when he was 9, the family struggled financially and their only source of income was the mother's meagre salary.

Unable to afford books, Garg read as many books as he could in the library and found it a "fun pastime" to read through the many case studies in the Harvard Business Reviews. In 2018, after he founded Harvesting, Garg was invited to Harvard University to speak about financial inclusion for smallholder farmers.

"And I bought a copy of Harvard Business Review at the Harvard University campus, mine own copy! I still feel super elated about being able to do this -- from not being able to afford a few rupees for books to getting invited as a panelist at Harvard and buying a copy of my own," he said.

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