March 11, 2015

Recent announcements have been released regarding significant investments being made by big players in India’s dairy sector, and intent to enter the sector by outside businesses.

Dairy giant, Amul has announced a US$752 million investment over the next three years to establish ten new dairy plants across the country, renovate existing facilities, increase production, and expand into new markets. Of the ten new plants, five will be built in Gujarat, the remaining five will be in Faridabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi, and Kolkata. In addition, Amul announced it will build the largest dairy processing facility in the north east of the country.

Parag Milk Foods has also announced plans to aggressively expand into the ghee market in the key northern region of Uttar Pradesh which is home to 16% of the country’s population, noting that consumer tastes are shifting away from buffalo ghee to cow ghee.

Mahindra Agri, the world’s largest agricultural machinery maker by volume, has announced its intent to invest US$113 million to enter into India’s dairy sector through the strategic acquisition of a brand that has a stable supply chain in place and strong branding placement. The company sees the fact that over 80% of India’s dairy industry is in the unorganized space as offering vast opportunity for consolidation, growth, and the capturing of market share.

And, ITC, the Kolkata-based cigarette and hospitality group has announced intent to invest US$159 million to expand into India’s dairy and juice sector within the early months of 2015.

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