A chance meeting with a good friend at Gujarat in 2019 got Bharat Panchal, Founder of Vikr Bioscience Pvt. Ltd to dive deep into the dynamic nature of enzymes, which was gaining popularity in various segments, including dairy, wine making, bakery, pharma and cleaning. Keerthana Sundar, Special Correspondent, Clean India Journal, sat down with Bharat at his office in Mumbai to gain insights into the fascinating journey of developing green, enzyme-based cleaning solutions.
Following a study on the impact of versatile enzymes, Bharat Panchal was clear that the demand for green products was far greater than the supply in India, as green products were not widely available then.
This led to the formation of Vikr Bioscience Pvt. Ltd, manufacturer of enzyme- and plant-based cleaning solutions and products.
The first product that Vikr ventured into was a green floor cleaner. “Everything we did was through experiment. We took vegetable waste and fermented it using plant-based enzymes at our plant in Umargaon.” As a practice, the samples were tried, tested, altered and perfected to ensure the right proportions of the compositions for best results. “We received favourable feedback and this encouraged us to get into manufacturing other cleaning products.”
While studying the existing competition in the Indian market, certain spaces seemed untapped with limitless opportunities. Getting back to the drawing board with the R&D team, challenging products like green wood polish and gum remover were developed and shared with clients in the market. The feedback helped elevate the performance of the products across segments.
The liquid hydrocarbon disinfecting cleaning degreasing enzymes got accepted by the Ministry of Health, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It is being used in hospitals currently. Expression and execution of interest from foreign shores like Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Jordan gave a boost to Bharat’s goal.
Indian expansion plans include educating premium segments like airports, corporates and hospital chains on the benefits of using eco-friendly products in their premises. This will enable healthier working conditions for personnel, lesser rounds of cleaning and overall long-term cost-effectiveness.
Bharat passionately spoke about two of his products:
The Bio Air Freshener, which on demonstration, released a subtle fragrance that enveloped the
office environment and the Mosquito Defence Organic Fabric Spray which protects users from mosquito bites.
Partnering with a Switzerland company to produce a unique fragrance that belongs to Vikr was one move that Bharat felt would protect his products from being replicated and misused in the market.
The packaging of the solutions is 100% biodegradable as they contain water soluble ports and are eco-friendly. The vision to expand includes using EV transport in future to cover the logistics part of transporting his products across various regions.