MUMBAI: When Bangalore-based Maa Gou Products (MGP) approached BigBasket to distribute its range of cow-urine based products in September, the online retailer agreed to do it on a trial basis.The products were initially put in the 'just in time' category, which meant that BigBasket would not keep inventory, but would source them from the manufacturer when it received an order. As it turns out, the MGP range – which includes a floor cleaner, tooth powder, balm and face pack -- has proved to be a hit, with monthly sales in Bangalore crossing Rs one lakh."They are fast moving products, so we have now decided to carry an inventory and offer them in all our centres," says BigBasket CEO Hari Menon.Started in 2011 with an investment of Rs 1.2 crore, MGP is the brainchild of five experienced businessmen, one of whom is the Kolkata-based Radhe Shyam Goenka, co-founder of Emami , who has been lending the cosmetics company’s expertise to the venture.The packaging for the MGP range is designed by Emami and the formulation for perfumed products like agarbatti is from the company’s research and development laboratories. "There are more than 50 units processing cow urine in India , but we’ve tried to bring a more professional approach to manufacture and marketing,” says Goenka.That cow urine is in demand not just in India, but around the world, became evident recently when health authorities in London raised objections to shopkeepers placing cow urine concentrate on shelves next to food items. The supplier, it this case, turned out to be an ISKON temple in Watford, which runs a dairy.ISKON India is also a big processor of cow urine with seven units attached to the gaushalas (cow shelters) it runs across the country. "A litre of our distillate retails for Rs 200, three times the price of milk. For ISKON gaushalas, milk is a by-product,” says Damodar Das, ISKON’s minister for cow protection.The gaushala cows don’t produce much milk – but they do produce lots of urine. With well-to-do believers ready to pay good money for well-packaged, well-distributed products, producers are now getting organized. Anand Rathi , founder-chairman of AnandRathi Financial Services and one of MGP’s promoters, explains the costing: "We pay Rs 10 per litre for morning urine and Rs 1.5 per kg of dung (which goes into mosquito coils and agarbatti). The average gaushala cow produces three litres of morning urine and four kg of dung per day, which fetches Rs 36. This is enough to cover its feeding expenses of Rs 35 a day.”MGP is now a profit making privately-held company, sourcing from eight gaushalas (with 1600 cows) in Karnataka and Kerala. Baba Ramdev recently made an offer to buy up all of MGP’s urine concentrate on an exclusive basis, but the deal fell through. Mahavir Sonika is another promoter of MGP and since his export house, Suneeta Impex, is based in Bangalore, he’s effectively MGP’s CEO. "We inverted because we believed in the project. We are glad it has now become self-sustaining,” he says.