Mother Dairy to hike milk prices of both poly pack and bulk vended milk in Delhi NCR by Rs.2 a litre

Mother Dairy has decided to hike milk prices by Rs 2 per litre in Delhi-NCR market with effect from Tuesday, citing rise in input costs.

Mother Dairy, one of the top milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR with volumes of more than 30 million litres per day, has raised milk prices five times this year.

Full-cream milk now costs Rs. 2 more per litre at Mother Dairy, at Rs. 66 per litre, while toned milk costs Rs. 53 per litre, up from Rs. 51 per litre. The price of double-toned milk has gone up to Rs. 47 per litre 

Mother Dairy has agreed not to increase prices for token (bulk vended) milk alternatives and cow milk. The cost of living will be affected by the milk price increase. Mother Dairy blamed the price increase on an increase in the cost of buying raw milk from dairy producers.

"The dairy business is experiencing a year like never before. Even after holidays, there has been a noticeable rise in demand for milk and milk products from both individuals and organisations. On the other hand, despite expectations, the purchase of raw milk did not increase following Diwali "The business stated.

"The industry as a whole is feeling the pressure on raw milk pricing, which is pushing up consumer prices. We are severely restricted to increase the price of some varieties of milk to consumers in Delhi NCR as of December 27, 2022, as part of our promise to continue paying farmers remunerative prices to lessen the impact "said Mother Dairy.

About 75% to 80% of the prices consumers pay for milk are transferred by Mother Dairy to the milk producers. In the current calendar year, the corporation has increased prices on a number of occasions. On November 21, prices for full-cream milk and token milk in the Delhi-NCR market increased by Re 1 per litre and Rs 2 per litre, respectively.

Prior to that, Mother Dairy raised the cost of full-cream milk and cow milk by Rs 2 per litre in Delhi-NCR and a few other North Indian markets in October. In March and August, prices were also increased by Rs 2 per litre for all variations.

Another significant competitor in the Delhi-NCR market is Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which sells milk under the Amul brand. Each day, it sells close to 40 lakh litres. India is the greatest producer of milk in the world, with an annual production of between 210 and 220 million tonnes.

Mother Dairy has forayed into the Indore market. With this, the dairy brand is strengthening its footprint in Tier-II cities.

The company will be selling four milk variants through 1,500 outlets spread across Indore.

Vinod Chopra, Business Head (Milk), Mother Dairy, said, “Our entry into the market of Indore is in line with our vision of having a national footprint, complementing our presence in over 100 cities of India.”

“The newly launched milk range in Indore market is sourced from the regions of in & around Madhya Pradesh and is being processed and hygienically packed in an associated plant in Dewas,” he added.

Mother Dairy’s Story

Incorporated in 1974, Mother Dairy is a pioneer in the dairy industry. It began as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The brand was created under the Operation Flood Initiative, the world’s largest program for dairy development, targeted at making India a milk sufficient nation.

At present, there are around 1400 retail outlets and around 1000 exclusive outlets of Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Private Limited.

The company sells milk and milk products under the ‘Mother Dairy’ brand. Its edible oils are marketed under the ‘Dhara’ brand, while fresh fruits and vegetables, frozen vegetables, unpolished pulses, honey, organic range of products are sold under the ‘Safal’ brand.

Indian dairy market

In India, the growth story of the dairy market is driven largely by small-scale dairy farmers. The dairy market in the country is amongst the largest and fastest growing markets in the world.

The things that offer further impetus to India’s dairy industry include growing private sector investment in dairy farming, supply chain, processing facilities, and backward integration.

In India, the demand for dairy products is likely to grow significantly in the coming years, driven by more consumers, higher incomes and greater interest in nutrition. The demand for quality dairy products is increasing and production is also rising in many developing countries. Consumption of processed and packaged dairy products is growing in urban areas.

Due to the increasing competition from the private sector, several national and international brands have forayed into the dairy market and expanded consumers’ expectation of quality.

Milk and Dairy products major Mother Dairy on Friday launched its first restaurant in Noida, Delhi NCR. With this, Mother Dairy has now entered into the Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) segment. The outlet was was inaugurated by Union Minister of State for Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries Sanjeev Kumar Balyan.

The restaurant called 'Café Delights', will serve holistic food options and delicacies from across the country, Mother Dairy said in a statement, adding that it will have both dine-in as well as take away options.

"Mother Dairy is amongst those institutions which have consciously worked towards bridging the gap between the farmers of the hinterlands and urban consumers. Initiatives like these offer an unmatched dining experience to the consumers with quality food options to savour upon and at the same time, create more avenues of the farmers' produce," Balyan said in a statement.

Such initiatives also imply the relevance of farmers and their contribution in the overall food chain, which can never be replaced, he said.

Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Managing Director Sangram Chaudhary said, "Changing lifestyles, increased disposable incomes and availability of new formats have attracted consumers to look out and opt for new and modern alternatives for food consumption."

"In recent years, ice cream and snacking parlours have gained popularity and to match these changing consumer preferences, we aim to start a modern and contemporary outlet, which will further help us in providing quality food options in conformance to food safety and hygiene norms," he added.

Mother diary further plans to expand 60 more outlets in Delhi NCR.

Mother Dairy, a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), is planning to soon launch its own brand of Santra barfi for helping Nagpur’s orange growers. Santra barfi is a popular local sweet named after Nagpur orange.

Mother Dairy’s Santra barfi will have a natural essence of orange in it, but it may not consist orange like the other brands in the market.

Santra barfi that are available now in the market has pumpkin or lauki (bottle gourd) as base with orange essence added. However, Mother Dairy’s barfi will be a milk product with natural orange essence.

Dilip Rath, Chairman of NDDB, said, “Though we are basically into dairy development, the minister asked us to come up with some plans that may benefit the orange growers. So, it was decided to launch Santra barfi. The product would be available at retail stores apart from Mother Dairy’s own outlets. This would come under the milk product category, a segment that has seen 61% year on year growth.”

“There were plans to also launch Srikhand. Plans have been drawn to take milk procurement to 5 lakh litre in next three years. A present it is 2 lakh litres a day. Growth in dairy business has also led to farmers buying new cattle,” he added.

Mother Dairy, a leading milk supplier, has partnered with Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) for setting up 31 kiosks at latter's bus depots, terminals and housing colonies. This partnership is part of Mother Dairy’s efforts to expand presence in the National Capital Region.

The dairy firm is selling more than 30 lakh litres of token and pouched milk per day in Delhi-NCR.

The company said in a statement, "The company has been allotted space to operate 31 kiosks of which 21 kiosks have been set-up at various locations of DTC's bus depots, terminals, colonies, etc. The remaining 10 kiosks will be opened in a phased manner."

Mother Dairy will be providing all products in its kiosks, including products from Safal and Dhara.

Sangram Chaudhary, Managing Director of Mother Dairy, stated, "We, at Mother Dairy, have been instrumental in offering quality and nutritious products in close vicinity of our consumers. With the addition of these kiosks, we will be serving not only the residents but also the consumers on the go."

Manoj Kumar, Managing Director, DTC, added, "DTC has been in the forefront with providing last mile connectivity to the residents of Delhi-NCR. With a daily ridership of more than 32 lakh passengers, it was only natural to join hands with another ubiquitous Delhi institution like Mother Dairy to provide convenience to the commuters as well as residents of nearby colonies."

Mother Dairy Fruits & Vegetable has appointed Sangram Chaudhary as the new Managing Director (MD), replacing Sanjeev Khanna who resigned in February this year. Chaudhary will be taking charge of his new role from May 1, 2019.

Chaudhary has over three decades of experience in the dairying sector of the country. He has demonstrated exemplary leadership in his last association as Executive Director of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).

Sangram’s core areas of interest remain organizational development, institution building, quality management, and project management.

Mother Dairy was commissioned in 1974 as a fully owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). The company has witnessed a series of high-level exits in the past.

Mother Dairy is planning to enter the organic products market through its Safal brand.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) will initially sell its organic range of fresh fruits and vegetables and other kitchen ingredients through select 100 Safal booths across Delhi-NCR.

Mother Dairy will source from major organic goods producing states, including Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Sikkim.

With Organic product market growing at 25% annually, this will be a nice move for the Delhi-based brand.

Mother Dairy currently operates around 300 Safal stores across Delhi-NCR.

While accepting to the request of the Department of Consumer Affairs, Mother Dairy, which sells fresh vegetables and fruits under the brand Safal, has cut down the price of onions by Rs 2 per kg in the National Capital.

Consumer Affairs Department’s direction to Mother Dairy came after taking note of rising price of onions. Presently, retail onion prices in Delhi are ruling in the range of Rs 30-40 per kg on tight supplies.

The Central government has also asked the co-operative Nafed (National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India) to boost supplies in the city from the buffer stock.

The department said, "The Department of Consumer Affairs advised Mother Dairy to roll back the prices of onions by Rs 2 across all variants. Mother Dairy agreed to reduce these rates from Rs 25.90 to Rs 23.90 for the loose variant and from Rs 27.90 to Rs 25.90 for the packed variant at all its stores in Delhi."

मदर डेयरी ने कहा है कि बाबा रामदेव के पतंजलि समूह द्वारा सस्ता पैक किए गए गाय के दूध के बावजूद कीमतें कम नहीं होंगी। कंपनी ने यह कहते हुए विश्वास व्यक्त किया कि इससे कोई फर्क नहीं पड़ता कि इस सेगमेंट में कितने खिलाड़ी प्रवेश करते हैं, इसकी बिक्री की मात्रा प्रभावित नहीं होगी।

मदर डेयरी प्रति दिन लगभग 7 लाख लीटर गाय दूध बेच रही है, मुख्य रूप से दिल्ली-एनसीआर बाजार में। मदर डेयरी गाय के दूध 42 रुपये प्रति लीटर बेचती है, जबकि हरिद्वार स्थित पतंजलि आयुर्वेद ने 40 रुपये प्रति लीटर लॉन्च किया है।

मदर डेयरी फ्रूट एंड सब्जी प्राइवेट लिमिटेड के निदेशक सौगाता मित्रा ने कहा, "हम प्रतिस्पर्धा का स्वागत करते हैं। पतंजलि समूह की प्रविष्टि से गाय दूध खंड के समग्र आकार में वृद्धि होगी। इससे किसानों और ग्रामीण अर्थव्यवस्था में भी मदद मिलेगी, लेकिन हम न तो गाय के दूध की कीमत में वृद्धि करेंगे और न ही कम करेंगे।"

पतंजलि ने पिछले हफ्ते गाय दूध और दूध आधारित डेयरी उत्पादों को लॉन्च करके गाय दूध खंड में अपनी मांग की घोषणा की थी। कंपनी वित्त वर्ष 20 तक लगभग 1000 करोड़ रुपये की बिक्री को लक्षित कर रही है।

मित्रा ने कहा, "हम पिछले 40 सालों से दिल्ली-एनसीआर बाजार की सेवा कर रहे हैं। हमारे ग्राहक ब्रांड के प्रति वफादार हैं। देश भर में पैक किए गए गाय दूध बाजार प्रति दिन करीब 10-12 लाख लीटर होने का अनुमान है। हम बेचते हैं वर्तमान में लगभग 7 लाख प्रति दिन और अगले वर्ष मार्च तक प्रति दिन 8 लाख लीटर तक पहुंचने का अनुमान है।"

मदर डेयरी प्रति दिन 36-37 लाख लीटर दूध की आपूर्ति करती है। इनमें से 32 लाख लीटर प्रति दिन दिल्ली-एनसीआर में आपूर्ति की जाती है।

इससे पहले, बाबा रामदेव ने कहा था, "हमारा दूध अन्य स्थापित ब्रांडों की तुलना में 2 रुपये प्रति लीटर 40 रुपये प्रति सस्ता होगा। हमारा लक्ष्य है कि अगले वित्त वर्ष में 1,000 करोड़ रुपये का कारोबार हो। इस वित्त वर्ष में, हमारे पास कारोबार होगा 500 करोड़ रुपये।"

Mother Dairy has said that it will not reduce prices despite cheaper packaged cow milk by Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Group. The company expressed confidence by saying that it doesn’t matter how many players enter this segment, its sales volume will not be affected.

Mother Dairy is selling around 7 lakh litres of cow milk per day, largely in the Delhi-NCR market.

Mother Dairy sells cow milk at Rs 42 per litre while Haridwar-based Patanjali Ayurved has launched it at Rs 40 per litre.

Saugata Mitra, Director of Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd, said, "We welcome competition. Patanjali group’s entry will lead to an increase in the overall size of the cow milk segment. It will also help farmers and the rural economy. But, we will neither increase nor decrease our price of cow milk." 

Patanjali had last week announced its foray into the cow milk segment by launching cow milk and milk-based dairy products. The company is targeting sales of around Rs 1,000 crore by FY20.

Mitra said, "We have been serving the Delhi-NCR market for last 40 years. Our customers are loyal to the brand. The packaged cow milk market across the country is estimated to be of around 10-12 lakh litres per day. We sell around 7 lakh per day currently and this is estimated to touch 8 lakh litre per day by March next year."

Mother Dairy supplies about 36-37 lakh litres of milk per day. Out of which, 32 lakh litres per day is supplied in Delhi-NCR.

Earlier, Baba Ramdev had said, "Our milk would be cheaper than other established brands by Rs 2 at Rs 40 per litre. We are aiming to have a business of Rs 1,000 crore by next fiscal. This fiscal, we would have a business of Rs 500 crore."

नेशनल डेयरी डेवलपमेंट बोर्ड (एनडीडीबी) की पूर्ण स्वामित्व वाली मिल्क प्रोडक्ट की सहायक कंपनी मदर डेयरी ने दिल्ली-एनसीआर और उत्तर भारत के प्रमुख बाजारों में गाय दूध से बने दही लॉन्च किया है। दो साल पहले, कंपनी ने अपने पैकेज्ड गाय दूध को पेश किया था, जिसको विशेष रूप से बच्चों के लिए तैयार किया गया था।

कंपनी ने कहा, "उसी प्रयास में और गाय के दूध और उससे जुड़े उत्पादों की बढ़ती मांग को पूरा करने के लिए, अब हम सुविधा, स्वाद और स्वास्थ्य लाभ प्रदान करने वाले पैकेज प्रारूप में गाय के दूध से बना दही लॉन्च कर रहे हैं।"

नया लॉन्च वैरिएंट 100 ग्राम और 400 ग्राम के एसकेयू में कप के फॉर्मेट में उपलब्ध होगा, जिसका मूल्य क्रमशः रु. 12 और रु. 45 होगा ।

गाय के दूध और गाय के दूध से बने दही के अलावा, मदर डेयरी भारत के प्रमुख शहरों में गाय का पैकेज्ड घी भी प्रदान करता है।

मदर डेयरी ने यह भी कहा, "गाय मिल्क दही की इस शुरूआत से, हमारे पास दही का सबसे मजबूत पोर्टफोलियो होगा, जिसमें पहले से ही विभिन्न उपभोक्ताओं की जरूरतें पूरी करने के लिए अल्टीमेट दही, क्लासिक दही, स्लिम दही और एडवांस्ड (प्रोबायोटिक) दही है।"

Milk products major Mother Dairy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has launched cow milk dahi in Delhi-NCR and key markets in North India. Two years ago, the company had introduced its packaged cow milk, crafted especially for kids.

The company said, "In the same endeavor and to serve the growing demand for cow milk and its allied range, we are now launching Cow Milk dahi in packaged format offering convenience, taste and health benefits."

The newly-launched variant will be available in the cup format in the SKUs of 100 grams & 400 grams, priced at Rs. 12 and Rs. 45 respectively.

Besides cow milk and cow milk dahi, Mother Dairy also offers packaged Cow Ghee in across key cities in India.

Mother Dairy also stated, "With the introduction of Cow Milk dahi, we will have one of the strongest curd portfolio, which already has Ultimate Dahi, Classic Dahi, Slim Dahi and Advanced (Probiotic) Dahi to cater to varied consumer usage."

Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), has confirmed to build a milk processing plant and a central distribution facility in Odisha.

While it will invest Rs 150 crore for the five lakh litre per day milk plant, Rs 25 crore will be spent for the central distribution facility, said NDDB Chairman Dilip Rath.

The NDDB is looking for 15 acres of land on lease in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar to set up the two projects, he added.

“The NDDB has approached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for the land allotment for Safal to set up a central distribution facility and for collecting and marketing the farm produce in the most scientific and hygienic method to get the best price for farmers,” said Rath.

Safal, the horticulture brand of Mother Dairy under the aegis of the NDDB, will double its farmer outreach to 2,000 farmers for procuring fruits and vegetables in seven districts to ensure a fair value for their produce and give them a taste of organised marketing across the country.

He also said that they have planned to open 10 more Safal stores in Bhubaneswar and six in Sambalpur. It already has 16 stores in the two cities.

Saugata Mitra, Director, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt. Ltd, said, “Our aim is to strengthen our farmer connect to enhance fruit and vegetable procurement from Odisha. Our interventions at the farm level have already started showing results and we now plan to enhance our farmer strength in the larger interest of the farming community. We are aggressively pursuing to add 1000 more farmers to our network by the end of this fiscal, which will help us to strengthen on the procurement from the state.”

“Safal also plans to double the procurement of mangoes from the state of Odisha this season to 150 tonnes. Last year it was 75 tonnes,” Mitra added.

Indian major Dairy player Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable is facing top level management crisis as the company's top occupying ranks have quit in the middle of the last year.

The company which holds one of the largest market share in the country registers sales of around Rs 8,000 crore.

Mother Dairy has lost some of its top executives after its former MD & Director S Nagarajan last year due to undisclosed reasons.

Mother Dairy’s head of dairy business Subhashis Basu put in his papers around the same time to join Indore-based Prataap Snacks as Chief Operating Officer (COO).

The company later appointed Sanjiv Khanna, who was serving as PepsiCo’s CEO of SBC Beverages Ghana (marketers and manufacturers of PepsiCo products), to replace Nagarajan.

Sources said other senior executives to follow in the footsteps of their colleagues are Meghnad Mitra, who served as group CFO at Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable, Vikas Dogra, the company’s head of sales, and Maheswaran Rajaram, responsible for regional sales. T S R Murali, head of R&D, may also be on his way out, sources said.

When asked about the development, a Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable spokesperson said, “Mother Dairy is a professionally managed company with a leading position in the dairy sector. While we do not wish to comment on specific changes, it will be sufficient to say that movement of professionals is an industry wide phenomenon. Strong HR practices and the brand name of Mother Dairy is enabling us to get the right mix of talent for accelerated growth in alignment with the organisational strategy.”

Maharashtra based milk and dairy products company, Prabhat Dairy Limited is exploring the possibility of setting up unit in Assam.

Chief Marketing Officer and Business Head, Prabhat Dairy Limited, Nidhi Nirmal said “We are exploring the possibility of setting up possessing unit and talks are going on in this regard with the state government. We are eyeing to capture 10 percent of market share by financial year 2019 and firm up the scale in institutional business in Northeast India.The market for UHT (ultra-heat treatment) milk is growing exponentially with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 32 percent and the company aims to be a major contributor to the industry. To achieve the growth targets, the Company has planned to leverage its existing presence in the region by expanding its product portfolio. North East India is one of our primary target markets for our national expansion as it is one of the fastest growing in India, especially in Tetra Pak segment. We have strategized our products in line with the local demand as understand the requirements of the region since we already have presence here for a while. The market for UHT is growing fast and so is the demand for Tetra Paks is emerging as a preferred option of milk consumption in the North Eastern states. Our core focus would be to build Strong Consumer Connect as we are looking to launch more products in the region soon. Company will soon launch a range of value added products in Delhi, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Assam and firm up its presence in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra”.

Company currently has two plants in Maharashtra with a daily capacity to process 10 lakh litres of milk and produce 30 tonnes of cheese.

By the end of FY 2018, the company plans to enter and firm up its presence in various Northern, Eastern, Western and Central Indian markets, mainly Tier II and Tier III towns with higher disposable incomes.

Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd (MDFVPL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) under its Safal brand will open fresh fruits and vegetables outlets at three petrol pumps in Bhubaneswar on Monday.

Dilip Rath, Chairman, NDDB, said, "Union petroleum and oil minister has proposed this idea of having fruits and vegetables outlets in petrol pumps to make fuel filling centres as one-stop shopping centres. We worked out on a business plan and implementing it for the first time in Odisha."

The pilot project aimed at providing fruits and vegetables to consumers at affordable prices at the same time provide market linkage to vegetable growers and give them a fair price for their produces.

Rath said, "Initially the board will procure fresh fruits and vegetables from vegetable growers’ associations. Farmers in Odisha get only 30% of the consumers’ price, which we are aiming to increase up to 60%. This initiative will give a fillip to the sector."

He said that Odisha produces 25% less vegetables than the national average and 50% less fruits than the national average.

He added, "Despite having huge potential in the fruits and vegetables sector in terms of productivity Odisha is largely dependent on its neighbouring states. Unlike other states Odisha has plenty of ground water and favourable weather conditions for vegetable growing."

The board has also plans to provide training to farmers and help them with best farming practices from across the country through agronomic intervention for key horticulture crops like banana, parwal, tomato, brinjal, chilli and lady finger.

The NDDB chairman said, "Apart from ensuring quality and hygienic fruits and vegetables to consumers Safal will also promote farm producer organisations which will streamline quality procurement and also give remunerative prices to them. We have plans to include over 1000 growers from different districts under the project."

Mother Diary has also plans to expand the outlets to more filling centres in coming days.

Rath said, "If we get good response then we would expand in the state and will also replicate the model in other states. The state has over 1500 filling centres so if they will provide us space we will open similar outlets in other filling centres. "

This is for the first time Safal opens its outlets outside New Delhi and NCR where it has 380 outlets and 20 outlets in Bengaluru.

S Nagarajan, MD and Director of Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable, has resigned from the company.

Nagarajan has had a seven-year stint at the top after joining Mother Dairy from Philips in 2010. Sanjiv Khanna, former MD of Mother Dairy and who is currently serving as CEO of SBC Beverages Ghana (marketers and manufacturers of PepsiCo products), is being brought in to replace Nagarajan.

Khanna was MD of Mother Dairy for one year between 2009 and 2010. A company spokesperson confirmed the development.

Top domestic dairy brands, Amul and Mother Dairy expect milk and milk product prices to remain stable this summer owing to adequate supplies.

Over the next couple of weeks, milk procurement is seen increasing in south India, aided by an expected normal rainfall this year.

Milk prices were increased by Rs 2 a litre in February and March over concerns of low stocks and higher compensation to farmers.

RS Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, which markets its products under the ‘Amul’ brand said, “Milk prices will remain stable this summer as the price increase has been done by all companies till March.”

Sandeep Ghosh, Business Head- milk, Mother Dairy, said, “At the onset of summer, we are keeping a close watch on the milk prices. As of now, we don’t foresee any major change in the near future.”

For the past three months, prices of skimmed milk powder have remained stable at Rs 240-250 per kg. In summer, when milk production drops, the dairy sector is compelled to manufacture liquid milk and other products by diluting milk powder.

Sodhi said, “Dairy cooperatives currently hold 1.25-1.5 lakh tonnes of skimmed milk powder (SMP) stock, compared with 2 lakh tonnes a year ago.” 

Aiming for at least 20 per cent growth in the value added dairy products segment in the near term, Delhi-based Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable, subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board, might enter the health foods segment and diversify its low-calorie product line.

Value-added dairy products, fastest growing category for the company, comprised 18 per cent of its latest annual turnover of Rs 6,800 crore. The category covers ice-cream, cheese, yoghurt, buttermilk and cottage cheese, among others.

S Nagarajan, Managing Director said, "Low-calorie items are gaining traction and is definitely a focus area for us. Besides, entering into health food is an objective."

However, despite being asked, he would not go into specifics on products or schedules. The company has invested around Rs 15 crore in research and development to come up with new health foods and low-calorie product lines.

Nagarajan adds that their research has found females in the 11-59 years age group are deficient in calcium, iron and Vitamin-D, presenting a new consumer division possibility for it.

Targeting Rs 10,000 crore annual turnover by the end of the next two financial years, the company is also betting on its Dailycious brand, which until recently focused solely on powder milk; it recently came up with liquid milk.

In Bengal, where the company cannot sell liquid milk under the Mother Dairy name, owing to the state government having the brand rights, it has extended the Dailycious brand to do so in the state.

The milk portfolio accounts for a little over 70 per cent of its annual earnings but its contribution to overall sales is poised to fall to around 60 per cent by 2018-19 as sales of its value added dairy products pick up. The company is keen to target the market in Bengal and the neighbouring area.

Nagarajan said, "The eastern region (market) is poised to grow by 10-12 per cent in the coming 10-15 years. We don't want to miss our growth opportunity here."

Currently, the eastern region accounts for around 15 per cent of its annual revenue; the northern region contributes 80 per cent. Nagarajan is aiming to grow the brand by testing in West Bengal, and thereafter, based on market response, do so across India, except the south. It had first experimented with its sweet curd in Bengal and then went for a national rollout.

Mother Dairy, an Indian company that manufactures, markets and sells milk, milk products and other edible products is looking beyond Delhi NCR region as it senses growth opportunity in the eastern and western areas of India.

The wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) with sales of around Rs 7,200 crore, has drawn up a strategy -called 'purab-paschim' -to expand into new geographies, starting with Maharashtra.

To begin with, Mother Dairy has bought an old plant in Nagpur and is spending Rs10-15 crore to revamp it. It is also setting up milk procurement facilities in the area that is estimated to cost around Rs 30 crore.

Nagarajan S, MD of Mother dairy, said, "We are in talks with the Maharashtra government for a new plant in Bhiwandi that may require investment of around Rs 150 crore."

Apart from these, the company is looking to set up a plant for cut fruits and vegetables in Jharkhand for Rs 80 crore. This will help Mother Dairy tap into the Rs 1,100-crore frozen fruits and vegetables business.

Plans are afoot to test waters in the juice business in some of the pockets using cold press technology. On the cards are also innovations in fruit pulps, pastes and concentrates.

Mother Dairy is also working to revamp its Safal stores that currently sell fruits and vegetables. It is spending Rs 10-15 lakh per store to bring in modern retail practices. At present, Safal which operates around 300 stores in Delhi NCR, contributes around 10 percent (Rs 750 crore) to its revenues, while milk (Rs 5,000 crore), edible oil (Rs 1,000 crore) and value-added dairy products (Rs 1,200 crore) make up rest of its portfolio. Mother Dairy is aiming to open 250-300 milk booths in these new territories, as well.

Amul, Mother Dairy and other dairy majors' milk and milk products are preparing to increase prices in the coming months and boost the payouts to farmers.

The dairy majors are expecting a sharp drop in the stock of milk products to carry forward to the next fiscal year in April. They plan to raise milk and milk product prices and pass on the gains to farmers to encourage them to increase supplies, so that they can stock up products for the summer months, a lean period for the production of fresh milk.

RS Sodhi, Managing Director, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation that owns the Amul brand, said, "By the end of March, carry forward stock of skimmed milk powder (SMP) will be 50 percent less of last year and hence we might have to again increase farmers' prices, which will impact the price in the market. Consumer should be ready to pay more."

S Nagarajan, Managing Director, Mother Dairy, said the price that the consumer pays for liquid milk could see an upward movement by February. The cooperative has increased its payment to farmers by Rs 3-4 a litre over the past year, he said. The last consumer price revision was in June-July this year, when milk prices were increased by Rs 1 a litre. Private dairies usually follow Amul and Mother Dairy in revising prices.

Kuldeep Saluja, Managing Director of Sterling Agro Industries, which sells dairy products under the Nova brand has predicted that the price of milk products such as buttermilk, butter, ice-cream to increase 5-10 percent by March. He also added that Amul had not increased the price it pays to farmers in 2014-15, when supplies were more than demand, but the situation has changed now.

Sodhi said, "If Amul increases liquid milk prices, then we will too. Now that milk production has slowed and we have low carry-forward stock of milk powder and butter, we are further increasing (procurement) prices."

He added, "Cattle feed and fodder prices have gone up 32-35 percent in the past one year, so an increase in farmers' price is necessary."

Amul had increased the procurement price for cow milk by 10 percent to Rs 30 a litre and buffalo milk to Rs 41-42 a litre in the past one month and may increase it further.

Sodhi said the carry forward stock till date of SMP in the country by dairy cooperatives and private payers was 32,000-35,000 tonnes, compared with 1.25 lakh tonnes a year earlier.

In the summer months, when milk production drops, the dairy sector manufactures liquid milk and other products by diluting milk powder -10 tonnes of SMP is needed to make 1 lakh litres of milk. November to January is the flush season when milk production increases naturally as there is plenty of green fodder available.

The last date for exchanging the old currencies in banks was 24th November, 2016 and the never ending lines outside ATMs and banks were still visible up until 24th's evening. As many people could not visit the bank due to some problems or the other, they were left with only few options such as exchanging the note where it is still accepted or simply buy things from the huge outlets.

Many outlets were still accepting the old currencies or some were at least lending the change if they were offered the old currency notes but since 22nd November, 2016, some outlets such as Mother Dairy and Safal have stopped taking the old currency notes.

The outlets declared that they would not accept the old currency notes unless the buyer buys stuff for full amount.

Most people complained that some Mother Dairy and Safal outlet assistants claimed they didn't have enough stock now-a-days to sell.

On the other hand majority of Mother Dairy and Safal outlet keepers said that the problem lay with the government, because it had not provided them enough in small currency in order to transact business with the old notes.

As per reports published in IANS, one of the employee said, "We accepted the old currency from people and jotted down the balance on slips on our own initiative. Many people don't understand that we are not getting loose cash to provide them change."

One of the Safal outlet manager, said: "As the demand for Safal goods has suddenly shot up due to the large-scale use of 1,000 and 500 notes, we are not getting enough stock."

Another Mother Dairy manager said on the condition of anonymity: "If all the 800 Mother Dairy booths and the over 350 Safal outlets in Delhi and NCR (National Capital Region) were given Rs 100 notes to exchange with the old currency coming from customers, there would have been no problem for ordinary people.

Dairy milk cooperatives seem to be very happy about the demonetisation of the higher Indian currency notes, which led to the boost of banking transactions. Dailry milk cooperatives such as Karnataka Milk Federation, Mother Dairy and Amul are expecting to overcome the problem by transferring the money of the farmers to their bank accounts directly.

According to ET, Rakesh Singh, Cooperative managing director, Karnataka Milk Federation said, "We already disburse 970 crore annually — under the motivational fee to farmers since the past one year and will start making the weekly payments too via bank accounts."

Generally the Dairy companies pay the milk-supplying farmers on weekly basis that too in cash, now they will do the same, once in two-three weeks but in place of cash, they are going to transfer the amount directly to their bank account in order to avoid the hassle.

RG Chandramogan, MD of Hatsun Agro, said, "We have made no cash transfers, except for few old people who are unable to go to bank. Initially, there was resistance from farmers but we wanted to get them away from the clutches of money lenders."

Dairy products business is on the rising spree in the country with brands such as Amul, Paras, Saras performing exponentially well. Mother Dairy, one of the leading players in dairy products business is eyeing to clock a bounty of Rs 10,000 crore in sales by FY2018.

Explaining company’s business plan, one of the top executive of the company stated that Mother Dairy, a wholly-owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), expects to clock a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore by FY18 from the sales revenue of around Rs 7,000 crore in FY16, mostly driven by the rising demand for milk and milk products.

Echoing the same voice, Sandeep Ghosh, Business Head-Milk, Mother Dairy said that brand will hit a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore by fiscal 2017-18 on the back of geographical and product expansion as well as new product development. This fiscal, the company expects to do a business of some Rs 8,500 crore.

As a part of its business strategy, company is chalking down the plans to venture and explore the markets of Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad and Nashik and also of some other cities of Maharashtra. With its new plant coming up in Biwandi, Maharashtra (estimated cost of the project is Rs 100 crore), Mother Dairy is looking very positive to setup its strong hold in the region. It is also planning to equip its product range with new existing products that can help the company to explore markets of new avenues such as Bihar, Odihsa and Southern India.

Recently, the brand introduced cow milk in Hyderabad which is a brave move, considering the market of the city where people are more inclined towards buffalo milk. Yes, though the market for cow milk is not very large here, we might see demand picking up in couple of years with more awareness about the benefits of cow milk, Ghosh stated. 

One of India’s leading milk suppliers, Mother Dairy has decided to hike milk prices by Re 1 each for both half and one litre pouch. The company has however not raised the prices of token milk (bulk-vended milk) and cow milk.

The hike in price came after 24 months. Last month, India’s leader in dairy products, Amul also took the similar call and increased the milk prices by Re 1 for both one and half litre pouch in Delhi NCR region. Currently, Mother Dairy supplies around one lakh litre of milk in Delhi NCR region. Recently company released an official statement which stated that company has raises its milk prices in Delhi NCR for key polypack milk variants by Re 1 with effect from July 16, 2016.

As per the new rates, full cream milk will be available at Rs 49 per litre, while toned milk at Rs 39 and double-toned at Rs 35 per litre. For a half litre pack, the price of full-cream milk has been increased to Rs 25 from Rs 24, while the rate of toned milk has been raised to Rs 20 from Rs 19 and double-toned milk to Rs 18 from Rs 17.

It is important to note that the company has increased its farm prices by about 7-8 per cent in last one year while the effective consumer price hike is not more than 3 per cent, company’s statement states further. 

Mother Dairy, the dairy major has denied allegations of detergent in its milk samples picked up from its collection centres, saying it has sent it for retesting in a lab in Kolkata, reported PTI.

A day after the UP FDA claimed that it has found detergent in one of the milk samples, the co-operative said the tested was done on "loose milk samples collected at village level" which were yet to be accepted by it.

"The first test was conducted in Meerut by UP FDA and it found solid not fat (SNF) and there was no adulteration. We questioned SNF and sent the same samples for retesting to a lab in Kolkata, we are still awaiting the results," said, S Nagarajan, MD, Mother Dairy.

Mother Dairy said the milk sample, which the UP FDA claimed to find presence of detergent, was drawn even before reaching the chilling centre where the first level of testing happens to ascertain the quality of milk for further processing.

"It is unfortunate that loose milk samples collected at village level which are yet to be accepted for processing at our factory has been attributed to Mother Dairy brand," he said, adding its milk was "safe for consumption".

Nagarajan said Mother Dairy has not yet got any official report of the tests from the UP FDA and is awaiting for details on the same.

He said Mother Dairy would take up the issue with central food safety regulator FSSAI.

Mother Dairy said that it under goes four levels of testing at input, processing, dispatches and even at the market level.

"Only after securing clearances from all quality measures, the milk is then accepted for processing and re- examined after processing, thus ensuring the product available is safe for consumption," Nagarajan said.

The UP Food and Drug Administration yesterday said it had found detergent in one of the samples of milk picked from Mother Dairy's collection centres. "Results showed that the samples were sub-standard and one of the two contained detergent," UP FDA official in Agra, Ram Naresh Yadav had said.

The samples had been picked up from Mother Dairy's collection centres in Bah in November 2014.

"The samples were first sent to Lucknow and later to Kolkata on the demand of the company," Yadav said.

Mother Dairy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board. It procures milk from western UP, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan.

It sells 35 lakh litres per day in NCR, UP, Haryana, Punjab and other parts of the country.

The UP Food and Drug Administration today announced that it has found detergent in one of the samples of milk picked from Mother Dairy's collection centres, reported PTI.

"Results showed that the samples were sub-standard and one of the two contained detergent," UP FDA official in Agra, Ram Naresh Yadav.

The samples had been picked up from Mother Dairy's collection centres in Bah in November 2014.

"The samples were first sent to Lucknow and later to Kolkata on the demand of the company," Yadav said.

Mother Dairy, however, has categorically denied any adulteration of milk it supplies in pouches.

Sandeep Ghosh, the head of Milk, Fruits and Vegetables Section at Mother Dairy in Delhi, said, "Mother Dairy milk undergoes four levels of thorough testing at various levels -- input, processing, dispatches and even at market level."

Every tanker of milk reaching at plants passes a series of 23 stringent quality tests to check any deviation from defined parameters. These tests assist in detecting contamination of milk through water, urea, detergent, oil, etc, he said.

"For any such adulteration, the milk is immediately rejected from further action," he added.

The organisation follows 100 per cent testing protocol rather than resorting to random testing procedures, Ghosh said.

Mother Dairy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board. Mother Dairy in a statement explained the process of collection of milk.

"It is very unfortunate that the samples collected at village level are being wrongly attributed to Mother Dairy. The milk sample allegedly being reported is before it even reaches the chilling centre and cannot be attributed to the brand Mother dairy at all as it has not been tested or accepted as good quality for further processing. Here we would like to reiterate that as a process the milk is first pooled at the collection centre post which the collected milk is taken to the chilling centre where milk undergoes the required tests to check that it is free from any kind of adulterant and for % FAT and % SNF. If the milk is found not meeting the requisite standards, the milk is rejected. Only acceptable quality milk is then transported to the Mother Dairy factories and then retested before receiving the milk inside the factory for further processing. After processing the milk is tested once again before dispatching to ensure that the milk reaching the consumer is safe.”