Thacker welcomes competition from Amul in the milk market

Sales expected to grow around 11 per cent, says managing director

The Thacker group of companies, which retails milk in the eastern region, expects sales growth of around 11 per cent and regional sales to be around Rs 50 crore for fiscal 2004-05 from its milk and ice cream business, the group managing director Dinesh N Thacker said.

The group launched its range very recently after its earlier agreement with Britannia Industries ended, permitting Thacker to start retail selling under its own brand name.

The group has set a sales target of Rs 60 crore for the next financial year, he added.

The group launched liquid milk under its own brand, Thacker's farm fresh milk, after separating from Britannia in November 2004 and sales have registered a steady growth since then, he added.

"The average sale of the milk during last few months has been in the tune of 72,000 litre (l) per day but I must admit sales dipped by around 8000 litres per day following intensified competition with the advent of Amul brand of milk in the market last December," said Thacker.

Advent of brands like Amul in a market that is overwhelmingly dominated by unorganised players is going to accelerate the growth of the organised sector, feels Thacker.

"Though Thacker is facing competition from Amul, its initiative and presence will help in transforming milk into a fast moving consumer good from a mere commodity," he added.

The market has been growing at a faster than expected rate of around 15-20 per cent folowing the entry of Amul as compared to regular growth of 7-8 per cent, he pointed out to establish his point.

The group does not have any immediate plans for the launch of other milk-based products like flavored drinks and paneer, he explained.

The group is close to the commissioning of its spray drying plant for manufacture of skimmed milk powder (SMP).

"The capital expenditure set aside for the next financial year is around Rs 10 crore and this would include setting up of a spray drying plant," he added.

The company will be concentrating more on marketing in the next year, hinted Thacker.

The company reportedly has around 10 per cent market share in West Bengal's intensely competitive milk market.

It is looking at sales of around 72,000 litres per day during the summer season and expects buying to pick up in the latter half of the year to around 90,000 litres per day, added Thacker.

"With the changing scenario in the market, only professionally managed companies will survive and lot effort has to be devoted to marketing," he pointed out.

The company is planning to strengthen its home delivery mechanism which is already in existence in parts of south Kolkata so that more buyers in more localities can be served.

Presently the group acquires around 40,000 litres of milk per day from local farmers through its collection units at the district towns of Shyampur, Arambagh, Deora and Rajapur.

At present, the company is operating through 103 distributors but the number will be raised to 145 shortly for better customer reach, Thacker said.