Total Trading Solutions, an importer, exporter, and wholesaler of herbs and spices, won the most prominent exporter and Importer of the Year 2023 award in the herbs and spices category at the recent Signature Business & Services leaders event. CEO Vaibhav Kaushik plans to soon commission a new plant in Ghaziabad for processing whole spices and cashews.
Launched in 2016, the Ghaziabad-based trading company got its business going in 2020 – covering around 18 countries with a turnover of around Rs 1 crore in FY 2020-21. In FY 2021-22, the turnover jumped to Rs 11 crore, and then again jumped in FY 2022-23 to Rs 30 Crore (approximately US$ 3.4 million). Kaushik states, “We import areca and cashew nuts, and we export walnut, black pepper, and many other seasonal spices and herbs. I started working in 2013 as a trader, and always felt that trading in these segments had untapped potential. That led me to my journey of Total Trading Solutions with all our products selling under the brand name of LVN Foods.”
The first four years after Total Trading Solutions was launch were occupied in contact building and source allocation, explains Kaushik, “Our endeavor began in Ghaziabad, so that’s where I’m hoping to open a new plant to process whole spices through granulation and also to process nuts for export. Other than that, we have a cold store in Haryana and an office in Khari Baoli, Delhi. At present, the entirety of our time goes into trading, but eventually, we plan to start in-house processing and packaging instead outsourcing these as we are currently doing.”
Kaushik claims to have a good grip on the procurement and supply of Shilajit. He said, “We are a leading supplier of herbs with a huge base of customers in India for Ayurvedic products. A majority of our clients are repeat customers, and from January to March 2023, we have already supplied more than 50 tons of herbs to processing and extraction companies. Of this, 40 tons were sold in Punjab alone. Given the rate of progress, we still feel that there’s more we can do, more we can offer, hence more is what we are going to do.”
Food exhibitions
Total Trading Solutions recently participated in the Aahar show in New Delhi and Gulfood in Dubai to reach out, explore and target potential customers. “At the Gulfood exhibition, we participated jointly but at Aahaar we had our independent stall. I believe these two exhibitions have been very fruitful as they provided us with a market presence that we lacked. Meeting many visitors and paying heed to their feedback directed me toward increasing the exports of spices. As a result I acquired land in Ghaziabad, and soon the processing plant will be operational there.”
