Mother Dairy plans milk unit, distribution centre in Odisha for Rs 1.75 bn

NDDB, which owns Mother Dairy, requires about 15 acres near Bhubaneswar on lease for putting up the two facilities

Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd, a fully-owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), plans to set up a milk processing unit and central distribution facility in Odisha with an investment of around Rs 1.75 billion.

“While Rs 1.50 billion will be invested for setting up the 500,000 litre per day milk plant, Rs 250 million will be spent on the central distribution facility”, said Dilip Rath, chairman of NDDB told media persons.

NDDB requires about  15 acres of land in the vicinity of Bhubaneswar on lease for putting up the two facilities. 

The NDDB has approached Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for allotment of land to Safal for setting up of a central distribution facility and for collecting and marketing the farm produce in the most scientific and hygienic method that will ensure the best price for farmers," said Rath.

He added that Mother Dairy is also keen to foray into liquid milk business in the state.

Speaking on the occasion, Saugata Mitra, Director of Mother Dairy said, "we plan to open 16 new Safal stores in Odisha in this year.

Safal is the horticulture brand of  Mother Dairy having stores in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Bhubaneswar.

The company has 11 safal stores in Bhubaneswar and six in Sambalpur.

“Our aim is to strengthen our farmer connect to enhance fruit and vegetable procurement from Odisha. Our interventions at the farm level have already started showing results and we now plan to enhance our reach in the larger interest of the farming community. We are planning to add 1,000 more farmers to our network in this year”, Mitra added. Presently, Mother Dairy already has a farmer base of 975 in the state.

Safal also plans to double the procurement of mangoes from Odisha this season to 150 tonnes. Last year it was 75 tonnes," said Mitra.