Praful Billore is an Indian Enterpreneur who gained fame and recognition from his business venture MBA Chaiwala, a franchise network for selling mainly tea and ambience. MBA here does not refer to Masters in Business Administration but “Mr. Billore Ahmedabad Chaiwala” which Prafull himself clarified in one of the interviews (at 3:20 minute), taken by Sagar Sinha.

Prafull Billore Education

Billore did his schooling from Dhar, Madhya Pradesh. He graduated in B.com and decided to pursue MBA from IIMs. He wanted to study CAT from IIMs only but failed to aquire a high percentile in the CAT exam on successive occasions. Upon parent’s insistence, he decided to join a lesser reputed MBA college but dropped out within few days. Billore then moved to Ahmedabad and started his own tea stall from 6 pm to midnight. Simultaneously, he used to work at the Macdonalds for some side income from 9 am to 3 pm. He continued making tea on his stall for nearly two years (around 14:15 minute).

Prafull Billore Wife

Before tying the knot, Billore was asked by a fan during an interview whether MBA Chaiwala founder longs for a girlfriend, to which billore hilariously replied that he was seeing a girl at that time. After few months, news came that Prafull billore had tied knot with a girl named Shreya. As per her Instagram profile, Shreya Billore is a lawyer, consultant and advisor. She is also the founder of Mba chaiwala foundation.

Controversy of Prafull Billore

In the month of April 2023, a video appeared on social media where creator alleged that few franchise owners of MBA Chaiwala from Indore had lodged a complaint. The creator of the video further blamed Prafull Billore and his company for giving franchise on total expense near to Rs 30 lakh and for verbally over-promising of daily income near about Rs 10000. The franchise owners were upset and alleged that they are finding it hard to earn even Rs 600 daily.

Prafull later clarified in an interview with Raavya Sarda (around 25:40 minute) that no FIRs have been lodged against him (till the date of that interview) as to what was being trended during that time by many youtubers. In the same video Prafull opinioated that MBA Chaiwala is not a franchise business but a business consultation company in the food sector mainly for restaurants and cafes.

In response to the video posted by the accuser, many Youtubers at that time did analysis of Billore’s franchise model and found several flaws. Some even pointed out that Prafull might have sold an impossible dream to many youth verbally but have tactfully stated in agreement that the company will not be responsible for the loss and profit of the franchise owners. Another major flaw that many youtubers pointed out that Billore and his company may have handed over the franchise to many people in haste without the basic prequisites such as thorough evaluation of the area and the previous business experience of the potential franchise buyer, criterias which are usually mandatory to purchase franchises of major brands.

Prima facie it appeared to us that MBA Chaiwala did not had a USP for its tea franchise business and therefore, the franchise owners especially from Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities may have expectations far above the outcomes that was realistically possible.

Ironically, Billore himself stated on many occasions that he made his chai business big with minimal investment. He started with Rs 8000 borrowed from his father for his tea stall in Ahmedabad Gujarat which then soared to profits within the first month itself.

Reviews on social platforms indicate that Prafull’s tea venture, motivational talks and rag to riches story with minimalistic expenditure resonated strongly especially with the young audience who have ambitions to make it big . Therefore, the idea to replicate Prafull’s success with his Chaiwala brand name, inventory and ambience might seemed (or was) an excellent idea except that it required(s) significant capital.

Without a Unique Selling Point and with an over-priced conventional tea, it could be difficult for franchise owners to replicate the success of Billore especially in the Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. However, in one of the videos, Prafull opinionated that only a small percentage of his franchises are facing trouble and the rest are doing in profits.

In another video, Prafull can be seen claiming that MBA Chaiwala is close to touching 100 outlets in India and that the average cost of getting his franchise lies between Rs 22 ot Rs 25 Lakhs and Rs 15 – 16 Lakhs for kiosk outlet. The eyebrow raising point in the video is the verbal claim that outlets can generate Rs 3.5 – Rs 4 Lakh rupees revenue on monthly basis. Billore did not specified any conditions or factors in that video that would guarantee earnings of such amount |(or approximate amount) after purchasing his franchise.

Delhi High Court Ordered removal of defamatory videos

MBA Chaiwala and his team filed legal cases against several Youtubers. The plaintiffs and his team alleged that many Youtubers made defamatory videos about their Chaiwala brand without any factual basis. After revieweing the videos, the court ordered 9 Youtubers to remove the defamtory video made against MBA Chaiwala. Aditya Saini, one of the popular content creators was one of the Youtubers directed by court to not only remove the dafamatory video against MBA Chaiwala but to not repeat disparaging remarks against MBA Chaiwala brand again.

Prafull Billore NetWorth 2024

As per the admissions filed in the court by Billore and his Team, MBA Chaiwala had made a revenue of more than Rs 12 Crore in the last three years alone.

Justification of selling his Franchise

Prafull in one of the interviews (at 27th minute) was asked bluntly the advantage of buying a tea franchise to which Billore replied that his franchise sells not only tea and other food items but a superior experience too.

Venturing into Business Coaching

In 2021, Prafull Billore announced that he was also venturing into Business coaching by the name of MBA Chaiwala Academy. He opined that his teaching courses will help people to scale their businessess.