IndiaNidhi – Nidhi’ aptly meaning ‘treasure’ is a multicategory online-first platform offering the world diverse array of heirloom products of the finest quality
The seed for this venture was probably sown long back when the founder Sujyothi (fondly called as “Su” by her Canadian family and friends), was in her teenage. Just like an Indian girl never buys her first saree but borrows it from her Mom, she too borrowed a pure silk Kanjeevaram handloom saree from her Mom and started her journey in valuing the beautiful art and crafts in India. She belongs to a traditional Bunt family (a clan belonging to south of Karnataka in India)and grew up in an environment which valued tradition, culture, authentic clothes and food. Due to this she always had an affinity towards traditional clothing, and cultural art, which clearly reflects the reason she started this project.
Growing up in Mumbai, India (a multicultural city just like Vancouver), she was exposed to a lot of cultures and ethnicity with their unique tradition , festivals, clothing and food. When she was completing her Masters in Environmental Botany she knew she wanted to pursue something that would combine her love for nature with the unique art and culture of India. She went ahead to complete her MBA from MET college Mumbai to get the necessary knowledge to execute her vision.
When she met her life partner Prem Shetty Co-founder of IndiaNidhi, little did she know that she will get an opportunity to take her vision to a global platform. After her initial challenging days in Vancouver as an immigrant she quickly expanded her circle, gained experience in Managerial positions and met some wonderful people who played the role of catalysts to start her dream project. Vancouver, being the city of nature enthusiasts and people belonging to diverse culture who value handmade arts and crafts became the perfect destination for Su to start her journey to achieve her vision.
Why Choose Us?
We support and thank all those small businesses who are genuine, eco-friendly, pocket friendly and have a strong research and quality check. Hence we also strive to practice what we preach. Some of the many reasons that makes us likable are :
Company Mission
All our products are handmade by skilled artisans, weavers and farmers, and they reflect the skills of these professionals from different parts of India. By making these products easily available to the world, we also endeavor to empower these immensely talented craftsmen.
India Nidhi is a commitment to bring to the world, these Indian art, textile and wellness products in their purest form.
Our Vision and reason we choose Indian product
Su and Prem are from India, that’s right, but they are very much Canadian as Indian, that’s why we call our site as Indo-Canadian. Also it becomes easier for us to source and do our research as we have connection back in India to get the authentic products. Apart from that, we understand that India has always been a land of culture, yoga and science or ‘Shastras’. One such shastra is “Shilpa-shastra” – which is an umbrella term for the numerous ancient texts that describe the arts, crafts, design, dance, horticulture, textile art and culinary art.
While there has been a great demand for Indian handmade crafts and wellness products in the global market, this has also given rise to several unethical substitutes for these products. These mass-produced and machine-made products have taken centerstage, leaving little room for the sustainable handmade products made by skilled artisans and farmers. These copycat machine made, products are not only unsustainable, but also have adverse effects on our health and environment.
Keeping this in mind, Team IndiaNidhi’s burning desire is to fulfill the conscious buyer’s demand for genuine products coming directly from artisans. Not all the artisans are equipped enough to sell their products hence IndiaNidhi also sources from genuine organizations who support these artisans financially ,technically and giving the necessary funding and admin support, so that it can reach the consumer.
Our honesty and authenticity
We have a fantastic team back in India who have helped us source directly from artisans .We are extremely humbled to have our product sourced from India’s top SHG’s(Self-Help-Groups), NGO’s( Non-profit organizations) and Master artisans, we bow down to them for the efforts to help these artisan and revive Indian culture and art. We also thank them from bottom of our hearts to get associated with a small platform like us and give us the opportunity to live up to our vision.
Our fun team
Salila Ratish and Dhanisha Ambadi our research team. They are teachers by profession and Su’s very close friends and batchmates, during her Masters education days. Being educationist and experts in their field they have access to travel and meet some of India’s top arts and textile experts which helped us source very authentic products.
Sameera Dalvi: One of the finest designers in Mumbai and very close family friend of Su. We are extremely thankful to her for her time and help. Inspite of running her own venture ‘Moresha’ and having a hectic schedule she has helped us source and audit our products. As we grow we have plans to collaborate and get some beautiful designer artisanal products in our collection with her expertise.
Bharatraj Bhandary: An expert in the field of Business execution from last 20 years as he runs his family transport Business .He is also Su’s elder brother. and has being a constant support and guide right from filtering the suppliers to helping us with running administration processes.
Prem Shetty: Su’s Partner in Crime and a loving husband , who is also a finest Bartender. Having worked in well known restaurants in US, UK and now in Vancouver downtown, he helps Su, practically in every step which cannot be defined, and is a Co-founder, in true sense. Being an expert in creative and hospitality field, he is more involved in creative and customer delight aspect of the business.
Our support System:
Along with a strong back up support from friends and family in India she Su, feels blessed to be in wonderful city like Vancouver, with wonderful and inspiring people around her like her friends Vivian, Olesia, Sara, Randy, Richa, Amey and Harish who have been a constant support.
Our packaging:
We put our 100% effort in avoiding unnecessary packaging and all our packaging and marketing materials are recycled/upcycled ( having been used before and then put through a process so that it can form a new product)
