Mother Dairy’s MD, Manish Bandlish, stated that they are expecting 20 percent growth in turnover this fiscal year to about Rs. 15,000 crores on better demand for products. The turnover of Mother Dairy, which also sells edible oils and fruits & vegetables, stood at Rs. 12,500 crores in the last fiscal year.
Bandlish said that the growth would be driven by both an increase in volumes and values of its various dairy products. “We are witnessing strong demand for all our milk and other dairy products. Ice cream sales have grown significantly during the summer.
Due to the pandemic, ice cream sales were badly affected during the summers of 2020 and 2021, and last month, Mother Dairy increased milk prices by Rs. 2 per litre in Delhi-NCR due to a rise in its procurement and other input costs. It had increased milk prices by the same amount in March this year as well.
“Our milk procurement costs have further increased by Rs. 2 per litre after we increased the retail prices last month,” Bandlish said. When asked whether retail prices would be further increased, he said: “We may consider it after 3–4 months if this trend of rising input prices continues.”
“Animal feed costs have increased sharply, forcing farmers to increase their selling prices. As a result, the milk procurement costs of dairy companies have shot up, and some of the increase has already been passed on to customers.
Besides dairy products, Bandlish said Mother Dairy’s edible oil, fresh fruits & vegetables, and bread businesses were also performing well.
In the bread segment, Mother Dairy will introduce new products to offer the entire range to customers visiting its milk booths and Safal retail outlets. Mother Dairy, which was commissioned in 1974, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
It was established under the initiative of ‘Operation Flood’, the world’s biggest dairy development programme launched to make India a milk-sufficient nation. Mother Dairy manufactures, markets, and sells milk and milk products, including cultured products, ice cream, paneer, and ghee under the ‘Mother Dairy’ brand.
The company sells edible oils under the “Dhara” brand and fresh fruits & vegetables, frozen vegetables & snacks, unpolished pulses, pulps & concentrates, etc. under the “Safal” brand. In Delhi-NCR, it has hundreds of milk booths as well as Safal retail outlets. Mother Dairy has 9 company-owned processing plants for dairy.
It also undertakes processing at third-party facilities. Total milk processing capacity is over 50 lakh litres per day. For fresh fruits and vegetables, the company has its own four plants, while for edible oils, it manufactures through 16 associated plants.