Mother Dairy, a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), is keen on expanding its ice cream portfolio and plans to open 7,000 outlets across India over the next two years.|
"We are in the process of identifying the locations and estimating the cost of investment
for the planned 5,000-7,000 outlets against the current 1,200 outlets," said S Nagarajan, managing director, Mother Dairy.
"Our focus for ice cream market includes the top six metros, Mumbai being the immediate focus. We are a Delhi-centric brand but we plan to enter southern market and gradually spread pan-India," Nagarajan said.
Mother Dairy has already crossed the turnover of R5,200 crore as against R3900 crore, last year. "We are looking at the growth of almost 30% from our business that includes milk, packaged foods, frozen foods, fermented products, ice creams and ready-to-drink beverages during the fiscal 2012-13," Nagarajan said.
To strengthen the ice cream category, Mother Dairy is planning to launch and renew the high-end range in the product. At present, ice creams contribute over R200 crore to Mother Dairy's overall revenues.
The firm has increased its milk procurement rate by 100% over the last year. "We have already procured the milk to meet the demand upto year 2013. This winter, we have procured 60 lakh litres per day. The procurement will support our plans to strengthen ice-cream segment and enter the southern market," said Nagarajan. "We have increased our procurement base by over 50% in last few years which is a measure to reduce the price rise arising from inflationary pressures."