Amul to invest Rs.1,500 cr in two years to set up dairy plants & launch new businesses

Indian dairy cooperative Amul will invest around ₹1,000 crore in  next two years to set up milk processing plants. cooperative will also invest ar ₹500 crore on facilities for new products like edible oil, Managing Director R.S. Sodhi said.

In an interview with news ncy PTI, Sodhi said Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) expects 12-15 percent growth in revenue in current fiscal year from ₹38,550 crore during last fiscal year despite COVID-19 pandemic, as demand for branded food products has increased.

"We will invest around ₹1,000 crore in next two years on setting up dairy plants across various states," Sodhi told PTI.

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'Processing capacity would increase'

RS Sodhi also informed that processing capacity would increase to 420 lakh litres per day from current 380 lakh litres per day. He also spoke about Amul's new ventures, saying that  cooperative has started manufacturing sweets as well as bakery items using dairy fats. Apart from this,  GCMMF has also forayed into edible oil and potato processing segments as part of its objective to boost income of farmers from Gujarat and or states, he said.

edible oils will be marketed under new brand 'Janmay', he said and it will produce groundnut oil, sunflower oil, mustard oil, cottonseed oil and soybean oil.

"We already have few plants for edible oil, bakery and potato processing. We will invest ₹400-500 crore on setting up more plants in se new business areas over next two years," Sodhi said.

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Sale of ice cream declined amid lockdown

Amul which is kwn for its ice cream faced a decline in its sale by 30 to 40 percent as hotels, restaurants and canteens were closed due to Coronavirus lockdown. MD also added Marri ceremonies that contribute a lot to ice cream sales have also been adversely affected.

Meanwhile, household consumption of milk and or dairy products has risen which compensated  loss of sales caused by closure of hotels, restaurants and cafeterias (HoReCA segment) during lockdown period, Sodhi said. He also ted that during pandemic  sales of its dairy products like milk, paneer,  buttermilk and ghee were 15 percent higher during April-August as compared with year-ago period, driven by rising household consumption of branded food products.

Amul sells approximately 140 lakh litres of fresh milk per day, mainly in Gujarat, Delhi-NCR and Uttar Pradesh. Its dairy products are sold across country.

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(With inputs from PTI)