Gomini uses blockchain NFTs to enable cow ownership and revive indigenous breeds

Sitting in any part of the world, you can now own an indigenous Indian cow somewhere in Bihar that has been converted into a non-fungible token (NFT) by blockchain-empowered platform Gomini.

“We are converting cows in our clusters into NFTs, through which you can own a cow. Though the liquidity is initially provided by the cluster owner, once a person owns an NFT, he/she gets some benefits from the cow,” said Gomini founder and CEO Arjun Sharma.

By owning a cow through the NFT mechanism, the person will receive 2 litres of “authentic” ghee every month. “This is like having the cow and getting the product from it,” he told businessline in an online interaction.

Cut capital costs

It is a concept that Gomini, which in Sanskrit means Goddess Lakshmi, is promoting through cluster initiatives. “Once a cluster is set up, anybody can own a cow through the NFT mechanism and get the yield from it. It helps us reduce the capital cost for us,” said Sharma, who visited over 1,000 cow sheds (Gaushalas) and talked to over a lakh farmers in remote villages between 2013 and 2020.

While a retailer owns the cow, Gomini operates “on top of it”. People as far as Canada and the US own a cow in the company, based in Forbesganj, Bihar. An NFT-based system for cow ownership ensures secure, traceable transactions, he said.

Gomini had been in the making for the past 12 years, with the main objective of preserving indigenous breeds. Currently, there are 50 recognised breeds, compared to 210 available in the 1950 census.

Nabard’s help

“These breeds have been lost during the Green and White Revolutions. We did not want to enter dairying because the end goal was the preservation of these breeds and creating a sustainable ecosystem around them,” said the Gomini founder and CEO, who launched the company along with co-founders Gauri Shankar Maheswari and Sachin Sharma.

Currently, the company has three clusters in the pipeline in Bihar, and it will set up more such clusters going forward. NABARD is helping Gomini form FPO clusters by starting with natural farming.

Gomini will onboard 50 farmers per cluster with 200 acres each. One cluster has been completed, with 55 farmers onboarded. The company has begun with the Sahiwal breed of cow currently.

This is because the breed can survive any climatic conditions, in addition to being a local breed. “So, whatever is the local breed of Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, we will be using them to make sure they thrive,” he said.

Policy support

Gomini learnt a lot from the pilot projects it carried out before going mainstream. “We come from a software background and crunched data to see what we can do. Post the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, there has been a lot of policy support for indigenous cows. It was the right time to get into this venture. So, we registered a startup and finally went into it,” he said.

Gomini’s idea is primarily to first set up clusters of indigenous cows that can support natural farming. The startup integrates with FPOs and establishes a bioresource unit. This unit provides manure, fertiliser, and other crop inputs to the FPO engaged in natural farming. On the other hand, the company gets fodder from them.

This results in sustainability. Beyond this, Gomini will be using cow dung in the ₹12,000 crore spiritual market to produce agarbattis (incense sticks). “We don’t have a product line yet, but this is where we are heading. If you look at the agarbatti market right now, 99 per cent of the products are manufactured with charcoal, which can be replaced with cow dung.

Making system sustainable

“With one kg of dry cow dung, you can create 1.4 kg of dhoop in agarbatti, which has a better economic value than just selling cow dung to maybe anywhere,” said Sharma, who owns 700 cows in his farm in Bihar’s Seemanchal region.

This will make the system sustainable. “With the indigenous cow, you get milk. That will always be there, but we are not going to exploit the cows for milk. We are going to convert them into value-added products, starting with ghee and other such products that have a higher shelf life,” he said, adding that the company got trademarks in 45 classes of business four years ago.

From the product’s point of view, Gomini plans to start with spiritual and home cleaning products from cow-urine stock-keeping units (SKUs). Barring supervisors and veterinary doctors, the company will engage women’s self-help groups (SHGs) that are part of Bihar’s Jeevika Didis or Rural Livelihood Projects in the operational unit. This will be the dairy and panchagavya (a liquid made from cow dung, urine, milk, curd and ghee) unit.

Role of women SHGs

The entire operation of such SKU units will be outsourced to women’s SHGs, but the company will be responsible for supervision and auditing. The women will be trained to maintain the units. Gomini will buy back its products.

Gomini is looking at a scalable model and what products are in demand. It is entering the spiritual market because no organised player is producing cow dung-based agarbattis or doops (incense cones).

The products will be labelled in the unit under the Gomini brand as quality control, and other aspects will be managed within the plant. The company supports the SHGs with marketing and sales.

Expansion plans

On the company’s recent fundraising, Sharma said it was a growth strategy to increase sales value and set up more clusters. The founder and CEO said he recently visited Karnataka and Maharashtra, where he met large landowners who are ready to become cluster owners.

“We are looking all over India (to expand). The entire setup is water-resources heavy, and we need a source of water that will make the cluster sustainable. There should be an appetite for natural farming,” said Sharma.

The company is in advanced talks to set up clusters in Maharashtra’s Bhiwandi district and Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district. They may be set up in 2026, he said.

Over the next couple of years, Gomini is targeting to start 50 clusters with 5,000 cows. It is also in talks with firms such as Akashya Kalpa to collaborate and reach a common ground, said Sharma.

Published on December 29, 2025