Pune software engineer turns to hydroponics, now grows saffron in shipping containers for lakhs

Pune: Software engineer Shailesh Modak was well-settled in the corporate world, but he wanted to follow his passion for agriculture. “The biggest problem with agriculture is that there is too much reliance on climate and weather. With drastic changes in climate due to global warming the crops would fail,” he said.

That uncertainty led him to research alternatives, and he stumbled upon hydroponics. Modak decided to focus on a unique crop — saffron — which at the time was limited to certain belts in India. He coupled hydroponics with his love for nature and set up the operation inside shipping containers, controlling temperature, humidity, and light to bypass climate risks.

Today, Shailesh’s venture earns him lakhs by growing saffron year-round without soil or dependence on monsoons. By moving the high-value crop out of traditional fields and into containers, the Pune engineer has turned a corporate background and a farming passion into a climate-resilient business.