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Mr C.K. Ranganathan

R. Balaji

Chennai, Oct. 16 The Chennai-based CavinKare Pvt Ltd, a Rs 500-crore company in personal care and food products, is diversifying into dairy products including branded liquid milk and value added milk products.

Mr C.K. Ranganathan, Managing Director, CavinKare, said the company is initially investing over Rs 30 crore in a 2-lakh litre a day milk plant in Kanchipuram, about 65 km west of Chennai. It has acquired the dairy plant which was not in operation and is upgrading the facility.

CavinKare will span the entire range of the business from procurement of milk from dairy farmers to processing and marketing.

The company hopes to launch branded liquid milk early next year. It will be a new brand – the name is yet to be decided – which will be available through retail outlets. Also in the pipeline is a range of products including liquid milk variants in various packs, toned milk, fortified milk and milk products like cheese and curd. These will be launched in phases.

CavinKare is testing the waters with the dairy project with the initial focus on the Chennai market. But the company is committed to growing this business and would make the large investments that a dairy project demands. This has a potential to grow into a business of “hundreds of crores.” Once “we find our feet,” the project would be expanded across Tamil Nadu and outside with more milk processing plants and marketing network expansion, Mr Ranganathan said.

It is for this focus that CavinKare, which has a large presence in the foods business, which contributes about Rs 80 crore a year, has carved out a dairy division within the company to handle the project. Also, milk business demands day-to-day attention because of its low shelf life, he said.

More Stories on : New Products & Services | Dairy & Dairy Products

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