We were firing on all cylinders in FY25: Mother Dairy MD Manish Bandlish

We have three different businesses, dairy, edible oils and fruits and vegetables, all three businesses did well last year, says Manish Bandlish

Mother Dairy has seen FY25 close at revenues of ₹17,400 crore with a 16 per cent growth. In a face-to-face interview in Mumbai, MANISH BANDLISH, managing director at Mother Dairy, tells SHARLEEN D’SOUZA about its expansion plans for the next few years.

 

What was Mother Dairy’s revenue in FY25?

 

FY25 was a good year for us, we fired on all cylinders and we were able to grow by almost 16 per cent to close the year at ₹17,400 crore, which is a very good number considering the overall state of the business. We have three different businesses- dairy, edible oils, and fruits and vegetables. All three businesses did well last year.

 

What were the growth drivers for last year’s performance?

 

We have expanded our distribution and product range in Safal. We do export out of India, so we are again investing in that. We are planning at least two plants which have already been approved by the Board, one in Gujarat and one in Andhra Pradesh. These two plants will have an outlay of nothing less than ₹600 crore-₹700 crore. Similarly, we have multiple other proposals in our kitty which will be taken to the board in the next three to six months.

 

We are on an expansion spree. We see a huge opportunity in Safal, because there's a lot of work to be done in food processing, and the Government of India, again, is working towards farmer and farmer development. Safal will cross ₹1,000 crore in the next one or two years, backed by this investment and our overall strategy. Dhara has been growing steadily for the last one and a half decades, and the graph for sales has always been upwards. While the industry is going at 3-4 per cent, Dhara is going double digits. Revenue wise it was healthy growth and volume was at 8-9 per cent.  We are doing a refresh of the brand as well in terms of new advertising, new packaging. When we look at dairy, we've had success.

 

We've grown by almost 60- 70 per cent in the last four years. We have a two-pronged strategy, one within the geographies in which you are operating. We are also launching new products. Second part is geographical expansion. We are moving out of Delhi-NCR significantly. We have already launched in Rajasthan last year. We are going to expand into multiple other states, including Maharashtra. We have a big plant coming up in Nagpur, backed by capex. The board has approved around ₹800 crore-₹900 crore of capex and further proposals are on the way. 

  The summer season has been impacted this year. Has this affected the sale of summer products?

 

For summer category sales, you typically need to see consistent temperatures of above 40 degrees. This year, the weather has been erratic in NCR, which is our mainstay, and also in other parts of the country. Even in Mumbai, we have seen the monsoon hit 12 days early. This will definitely impact our business. The categories which are summer dependent, I think nothing less than 10 per cent impact on expected growth is likely to be seen.

 

Which are the other states you are looking to enter into?

 

In the south, we have already entered Andhra Pradesh with our brand. In Hyderabad, we are already there for a few years now and we want to make it bigger. We have a region-wide strategy for various categories and products for dairy.

 

What is your current reach in dairy?

 

We cover nothing less than 4 lakh outlets across India, and this will be expanded as we go along. We channel strategy for various categories and products. We have a multi-pronged strategy for dairy. A large part of our contribution for dairy also comes from ecommerce, quick commerce and modern trade. We put a lot of focus on it.

 

Has your share from organised business increased in the last one year?

 

Our share of the whole organised business used to be around 6 per cent around three years back, which has now gone up to around 9 per cent and we want to take it even further, which means it is growing much faster than the overall business. The share of quick commerce in the overall organised sector has gone up dramatically. Last year, we grew by over 200 per cent and that is backed by a lot of strategic discussion with each of these players, and our team is doing a lot of investments in ecommerce and quick commerce to get our share into that business.

 

What are your expansion plans for the next two to three years?

 

The board has already approved around ₹1,500 crore of investment combined in terms of Safal and dairy. Most of our plants are already underway. New plants of Safal and other products are in the planning and execution stage. Some part of it will start this year and spill over the next two years.

 

How do you see milk prices panning out this year?

 

Until December, the price of milk was quite stable for the last one and a half years, but in the last quarter, we saw general inflation. This was significant to the extent of ₹4-₹5 per liter over last year, and that is when we had to take a decision to increase the maximum retail price. Now I think where we stand today, it will probably stablilise here.