The country’s largest liquid milk marketer in the private sector is Hatsun Agro Food Ltd, which does a business of about 11 lakh litres per day (LLPD) out of the total 15 LLPD of milk that it procures.

This is a fraction of what Amul – India’s largest dairy concern – does. The cooperative today procures some 100 LLPD, out of which it sells 70-71 LLPD as liquid milk.

Besides Hatsun, the other major private players in the liquid milk segment include Heritage Foods India and Tirumala Milk Products, which do 6-7 LLPD each, followed by Dodla Dairy and Creamline Dairy Products Ltd (4-5 LLPD each). Significantly, these are all South-based dairies catering mainly to the Chennai and Bangalore markets.

While in the West, the largest private liquid milk marketer is the Chitale Dairy at Sangli (three LLPD), the North has only a couple of brands (‘Paras’ of VRS Foods and ‘Dairy India’ of Gopaljee Dairy Foods Ltd) that sell about two LLPD each. That means a whole lot of catching up to do for the private sector to be anywhere close to the cooperative dairies.

But one big factor that could spur further private inroads into liquid milk marketing is growing demand and willingness to pay, especially among urban consumers. This is best illustrated is Chennai, where the local cooperative, Aavin, is selling toned milk (3 per cent fat and 8.5 per cent solids-not-fat) for Rs 20.5 a litre. As against this, the maximum retail price for the same milk variant is Rs 26 for private brands such as Heritage.

The fact that private players are charging Rs 6-a-litre more and still doing business only testifies to a large unmet demand, which the cooperatives aren’t really able to supply.

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