Mother Dairy gearing up for a major push in food, fruit processing biz

Milk giant Mother Dairy expects to achieve a turnover of over Rs 550 crore from its fruits and vegetable division in 2012-13. Of this, retail operations are expected to generate Rs 350 crore, while fruit pulp processing will yield about Rs 150 crore and the frozen food segment another Rs 75 crore, says Pradipta Sahoo, Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt Ltd Business Head (Horticulture) .

Going into the 2013-14 financial year, the company expects to achieve a compounded annual growth of 10 per cent, similar to previous years. “We plan to increase our depth in Delhi NCR and Bangalore. We will be opening more stores and then think about the way forward for expanding into more territories in the north and south,” says Sahoo.

Besides this, the company is gearing up for a major push in the food and fruit processing business. “We are quite bullish on the food and fruit processing business. We are a big player in mango pulp. Given the health concerns over the carbonated beverages business, the fruit-based beverage market is going to grow and has been growing. This is one area where we need to put our foot down and expand and we are evaluating this option on how to expand our capacity and increase our footprint.”

But the company has no immediate plans to expand into other parts of the country just as yet. “At the moment, we have not thought through about expanding into Chennai or Hyderabad, but we will be expanding in Bangalore. We see Bangalore as a growing market and a lot needs to be done there. Once these operations have stabilised, then we will think about expanding into newer areas in the South,” he says.

arvind.jayaram@thehindu.co.in

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