New Delhi, Oct. 4 -- What began as a desperate attempt by a teenager to salvage his father's struggling milk business three decades ago has today grown into a dairy empire valued at nearly Rs 20,000 crore. The extraordinary journey of T Satish Kumar, the founder and managing director of Milky Mist Dairy Foods, is being hailed as one of the most inspiring entrepreneurial stories in the country.

Born in a modest farming family near Erode, Tamil Nadu, Satish Kumar discontinued his education after the eighth grade. In 1992, at just 16, he stepped into his father's shoes when their milk distribution venture faced imminent collapse. At that time, the family owned 20 acres of farmland and supplied around 3,000 litres of milk daily to Bengaluru...