The Hindu Business Line : Mahanand Dairy to diversify

MAHANAND Dairy, the leading milk co-operative in Maharashtra, has firmed up diversification plans, and is set to log the Rs 450-crore turnover mark during the fiscal 2004-05.

The dairy, belonging to the State Milk Federation, had a sales turnover of Rs 415 crore during fiscal 2003-04 with a profit of Rs 13.22 crore, according to Mr R.A. Rajeev, its Managing Director.

Mahanand Dairy was looking at entering the carton market, launching liquid vending machines and a series of fast food chain, with base milk products on the lines of milk parlours, he told newspersons here on Thursday.

The company, which launched its milk supplies in Hyderabad from Friday, was also open to joint ventures with local players in the Andhra market. "We are willing to talk to the State milk federations as well," Mr Rajeev said.

On its plans for Hyderabad, he said to start with about 10,000 litres of milk would be supplied from the Latur plant to the consumers in the city. "We have ambitious plans of reaching one lakh litres very soon," he said.

Mahanand Dairy, which has one of the most modern dairy plants at Goregaon in Mumbai, with a capacity of 6 lakh litres per day, has already launched its fresh milk supply in Goa, Gujarat and Karnataka.

Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh Governor and former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr Sushil Kumar Shinde, formally launched the initiative at a function. Mr Yogesh Bali, Director of Reltech, who would manage the distribution of the milk in Hyderabad, said a network of distributors would be built and supply organised. In the next 2-3 months, some value-added products such as shrikand, flavoured milk, etc, would be added.

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