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 the next two years to set up milk processing plants. The cooperative will also invest another ₹500 crore on facilities for new products like edible oil, Managing Director R.S. Sodhi said.

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

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

READ | Gujarat will be first to implement NEP 2020: CM Vijay Rupani

'Processing capacity would increase'

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

The edible oils will be marketed under the 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 these new business areas over the next two years," Sodhi said.

READ | Gujarat: 8-feet-long crocodile rescued from residential area in Vadodara

Sale of ice cream declined amid lockdown

Amul which is known 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. The MD also added Marriage ceremonies that contribute a lot to ice cream sales have also been adversely affected.

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

READ | Gujarati web series to watch across different platforms; See list here

READ | Gujarat's COVID-19 cases cross 1.04 lakh; 14 die

(With inputs from PTI)