Visakha Dairy plans to up sales via mobile milk parlours

Visakhapatnam Co-operative Dairy has started an innovate scheme 'Visakha Dairy on wheels' in a move to boost milk product sales turnover.

The dairy is targeting a sales turnover of around Rs 48 crore for the current financial year, as compared to Rs 42.5 crore in the last fiscal.

"In the first phase of the new scheme, we are introducing a few 'mobile milk parlours' across the city of Visakhapatnam. The mobile parlours will not sell milk but only milk products like ghee, butter milk, curd, flavoured milk, badam milk, lassi etc. In the second phase, we will extend the scheme to the rural areas in the district, particularly at the village mandis," N V Venkata Rao, managing director of Visakha Co-operative Dairy, told Business Standard.

Visakha Dairy is spending around Rs 2 lakh on each mobile parlour which is equipped with a refrigerator that runs on battery, Rao said.

"In the first phase, we want to run 10 such mobile milk parlours which will reach the nook and corner of the city. Later, we will send some mobile parlours to the rural areas," he said.

The dairy expects the additional sales turnover to accrue from the sale of milk products.

"Accordingly, Visakha Dairy is expanding its sales network by setting up more exclusive outlets across the four coastal districts "� Visakhapatnam, Srika-kulam, Vizianagaram and East Godavari," Rao said.

On the Hyderabad market foray, he said: "Actually, we had planned to enter the Hyderabad market this year in a big way by setting up a minimum of 200 outlets in the capital and by appointing a C&F agent. However, we have postponed it due to the shortage of milk products."

Meanwhile, Visakha Dairy has announced a hike in its procurement price. "At present, the dairy is paying Rs 18 per litre of 10 per cent fat milk. From September 1 onwards, we will pay Rs 19 per litre. Visakha Dairy has been procuring on an average around 2.8 lakh litres per day. Following the hike in procurement price, the additional burden on the dairy will be around Rs 80 lakh a month," Rao said.