Prabhat Dairy Eyes 10% Market Share By 2019

Tripura CM Biplab Kumar has asked Amul India to help develop dairy industry in the state.

A delegation of Amul India, headed by senior dairy expert S T Deshai called on Deb at his office and discussed the prospects of developing the dairy industry and milk-based economy in the state, shared a press statement.

The chief minister hoped that help from Amul will help in solving unemployment to some extent besides fulfilling the state's demand for milk, it said.

Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) is the largest food company marketing milk and milk products under the brand name of Amul. Deb also said his government wants to share experiences in running dairy industry with Amul which has a vast experience in the sector.

The CM sought help from Amul to implement his plan of distributing 10,000 cows to farmers in rural Tripura. The state government had last month that it would launch a scheme for distributing 10,000 cows among 5,000 farmers to combat malnutrition and generate employment in the state.

Kamal Krishna Majumder, Director of Animal Resources Development Department, said that Tripura produced 1,74,260 metric tonnes of milk in 2017.

In April this year, a government notice said that steps would be taken for augmenting milk production at Gomati Milk Cooperative Limited.

Deb said, If Tripura become self-reliant in milk production then there will be no need for importing milk from other states and the money of our state will not go outside. I sought Amul India Limited to help in this sector."

French foods giant Danone has decided to exit the dairy business in India. The company which entered India in 2010 is rationalising its product portfolio and has discontinued stock keeping units (SKUs), which have been making a minority contribution to its overall business in India that include the UHT (ultra high treatment) and fresh dairy products.

In line with this, Danone’s factory at Rai near Delhi has discontinued production.

Danone under the leadership of its India MD Rodrigo Lima, plans to focus on its nutrition business that it had acquired from Wockhardt in 2012, for about Rs 1,500 crore. In 2015, the company consolidated its India business by merging the two portfolios (dairy and nutrition).

Danone was incurring losses on its dairy business which includes milk, flavoured yogurt, buttermilk, cold coffee, curd and smoothies and could not sustain maintaining its margin. The company was unable to compete with national giants like Amul, Mother Dairy and other regional brands.

In a statement, Danone said it has decided to rationalise its product portfolio in India to allow for accelerated investments and a sharper focus on growing its nutrition portfolio which is more than 90% of the business. The company said Danone has a stated goal to double its nutrition business in India by 2020 in line with its global mission to ‘bring health through food to as many people as possible’ and this renewed focus is key to achieving this goal.

Danone India Spokesperson said “We have great ambitions for our business in India and remain committed to invest and grow in India through well-established brands such as Protinex, Aptamil, Farex, Dexolac and Neocate. In order to maximise growth opportunities, we are continuously analysing our portfolio and sharpening our focus to accelerate investments on the best performing categories and products. For this reason, we will discontinue some of the SKU’s sold in India. Our focus is to bring nutritionally superior and relevant products to India, and 2017 has been a testimony of that with 10 new launches including some from our global portfolio”.

Gujrat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (Amul) has decided to invest about Rs 250 crore in the dairy sector of Odisha.

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited's Managing Director RS Sodhi said “currently there was a supply gap of 30 lakh litres of milk per day in Odisha. State was the second biggest market for Amul in the country”.

Mayank Jalan, MD of Keventer Agro Ltd, during his meeting with the Odisha delegation said “their intent to set up a unit for maize processing, promote banana cultivation and set up a food processing laboratory in the state.”

In the seminar, the representative of the TATA Global Beverages Ltd said that it had shortlisted Odisha as the potential location for setting up of a tea packaging unit over 20 acres of land with an investment of 40 crore and employment to 400 people.

The state MSME Minister Prafulla Samal, who was present in the seminar, had said food processing was a focus sector for the state. In order to promote the industry, Odisha had chalked out food processing policy, developed mega food parks at Deras and Rayagada and single window facilitation for investors.

Odisha's Additional Chief Secretary, MSME, L N Gupta said that with 10 agro climatic zones and 480 km long coastline coupled with surplus production of cereals, rice and vegetables, the state offered an enormous opportunity for food processing industry.