Amul To Invest Rs 1,500 Crore In Two Years To Set Up Dairy, Edible Oil, Bakery, Potato Processing Plants
Amul owner expects 12-15% growth in revenue in current fiscal from Rs 38,550 crore a year ago despite Covid-19.
Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., which markets dairy products under Amul brand, will invest around Rs 1,000 crore over the next two years to set up milk processing plants, and another Rs 500 crore on facilities for new products like edible oil.
GCMMF expects 12-15% growth in revenue in current fiscal from Rs 38,550 crore a year ago despite Covid-19 pandemic as demand for branded food products has increased, Managing Director RS Sodhi said in an interview with PTI.
"We will invest around Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years on setting up dairy plants across various states," Sodhi told PTI. The processing capacity, he said, will increase to 420 lakh litres per day from the current 380 lakh litres per day.
On new businesses, Sodhi said the cooperative has started manufacturing sweets as well as bakery items using dairy fats.
Besides, he said, GCMMF has forayed into edible oil and potato processing segments as part of its objective to boost income of farmers from Gujarat and other states.
The edible oils will be marketed under the new brand 'Janmay'. It will produce groundnut oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, mustard oil and soybean oil.
"We already have few plants for edible oil, bakery and potato processing. We will invest Rs 400-500 crore on setting up more plants in these new business areas over the next two years," Sodhi said.
Asked about sales during the pandemic, he said sales of its dairy products like milk, butter milk, paneer and ghee were 15% higher during April-August compared with the year-ago period, driven by rising household consumption of branded food products.
However, he said, ice-cream sales declined 30-40% due to closure of hotels, restaurants and canteens because of lockdown. "Marriage ceremonies contribute a lot to ice-cream sales. This has been affected badly this year," he said.
Sodhi said household consumption of milk and other dairy products has risen, compensating loss of sales caused by closure of hotels, restaurants and cafeterias during the lockdown period.
Amul sells 140 lakh litres of fresh milk per day, mainly in Gujarat, Delhi-National Capital Region and Uttar Pradesh. Its dairy products are sold across the country.