Mother Dairy plans 'Fresh' launch

The Rs 2200 crore Mother Dairy group is planning to launch half a dozen products under its 'fresh dairy' portfolio in eastern India. These products are available in Delhi at present.

Speaking to Business Standard, Mother Dairy CEO Paul Thachil said, "We have recently launched curd in Bombay. In a few years from now, depending on the market, we will introduce all our fresh dairy products in eastern India too in a phased manner."

The 'fresh dairy' portfolio of Mother Dairy, at present, includes three variants in lassi, three variants in curd and about four variants in flavoured milk.

While curd is available at the Mother Dairy depots in Kolkata, the rest of the products will be rolled out in about 2-3 years.

At present, the company has a plant in West Bengal where it is manufacturing icecreams.

Once it launches the fresh dairy products, the company may either set up a new plant within 40 kms off Kolkata, or increase capacity at its existing plant to facilitate logistics as these products enjoy limited shelf-life of about 10 days.

The company may even look at outsourcing the manufacturing part to some of the local dairy players in east India.

The group also plans to launch newer variants under its edible oil brand - Dhara - which at present has close to 8 variants. It would also launch newer products in frozen foods and vegetables category under its Rs 300 crore Safal brand.

The company recently rolled out 'Daroliva' olive oil nationally.

It also rolled out 'Dhara Rice Bran Oil' in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh markets.

Dhara Rice Bran Oil, too, will be introduced in eastern India , depending on its success in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and how the market in east feels about rice bran oil.

"We plan to sell around 100 tonnes per month in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh alone," said Thachil.

The company aims to achieve about 15 per cent market share in the olive oil segment within a year of the launch. According to industry estimates, the total olive oil market in India is around 2,000 tonnes a year and is growing at close to 30 per cent per annum.

Daroliva "� the extra virgin olive oil "� is at present being imported from Spain and packaged at Mother Dairy's plant in Gujarat.

Dhara Rice Bran Oil, on the other hand, is being manufactured at its plant in Karnataka.

The group, at present, has about 2,000 distributors and presence in 2.5 lakh retail outlets. It expects to close the current fiscal at Rs 2800 crore.