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After laying the foundation stone for its first plant outside Gujarat a one million litres per day (lpd) dairy plant at Faridabad in the National Capital Region (NCR) that would come up with an investment of Rs 300 crore, the largest member union of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Banaskantha District Co-operative Milk Producer’s Union Ltd (Banas Dairy) is also planning to open two plants of 0.5 million lpd each in Lucknow and Kanpur in Uttar Pradesh soon.
"At the moment, GCMMF sells around 2.5 million lpd of milk in the NCR, of which Banas Dairy's share is around 0.65 million lpd, which is expected to go up to one million lpd within a year's time. Every year, the market in NCR is expanding, and Amul has already established itself as a brand in the region. Therefore, there is scope for expansion," said Parthi Bhatol, chairman of the Banaskantha Milk Union and also the ex-chairman of GCMMF which sells milk and dairy products under the brand Amul.
The capacity at the Faridabad plant would be expandable up to 1.5 million lpd in the future.
He added that Banas Dairy is also putting up two dairy plants in Uttar Pradesh, one in Kanpur and another in Lucknow.
"The UP government has already granted land for the projects. The plants together would have around one million lpd milk processing capacity, and investment is to the tune of Rs 300-350 crore," he explained. Banaskantha Milk Union procures milk 3.3 million lpd of milk from more than 0.35 million milk producer members of Banaskantha district of Gujarat.
The Faridabad plant would be GCMMF's fourth plant in the NCR.
Mehsana District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd, Dudhsagar Dairy has already commissioned two plants in the region, one at Manesar and another at Dharuhera. Sabarkantha District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Ltd, Sabar Dairy has also set up a plant at Rohtak in Haryana. With the Faridabad plant, GCMMF's net processing capacity in NCR would rise to 6 million lpd by 2015-16.
GCMMF's sales volumes in NCR (2.5 million lpd at the moment) is expected to grow at the rate of 10-15 per cent during the next five to seven years.
The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which markets milk and milk products under the Mother Dairy brand also sells around 2-2.5 million lpd of milk in NCR at the moment, Bhatol informed. He added that the capacity expansion is in line with GCMMF's Vision 2020 strategy.
In his speech as the chairman of GCMMF in 2011, Bhatol had highlighted Amul's Vision 2020 plan. "We have already finalised and documented our roadmap for the next ten years. As per our plan, the group turnover of all dairy cooperatives of Gujarat will reach Rs 30,000 crores ($ 6.7 billion assuming current prices and exchange rate) by the year 2020. We will also take all possible steps to help other dairy cooperatives outside Gujarat to flourish and grow."
The Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union, popularly known as Amul Dairy has recently inaugurated a one million lpd plant in Virar near Mumbai last year.
