Why I started UpcharMitra

I grew up in Bihar seeing the same thing again and again. Someone falls sick, and a family member walks from one pharmacy to the next with a prescription, asking for the same medicine. Usually a shop nearby has it. There's just no way to know which one.

It never felt like a medical problem to me. It felt like a missing piece. The medicines are there, the pharmacies are there, but nothing connects them to the person who is looking.

UpcharMitra began at the Startup Cell of Saharsa College of Engineering, and I incorporated the company in July 2025 to build that connection. We don't run warehouses or our own pharmacies. We work with the neighbourhood shops that are already there, the ones people already trust.

LocalPill is the first thing we've built. It works anywhere in India where medical stores have joined, and our job now is to bring more of them in, one store at a time.

Medicines are where we start, not where we stop. In Hindi, upchar means treatment and mitra means friend. That's what we want to be for families: a friend who makes everyday healthcare easier to reach.

If you run a medical store, want to work with us, or just have a story about looking for a medicine, write to me at [email protected]. I read every email.