THE CURRENT economic recession has affected a majority of the sectors. The dairy industries are also not left untouched. But how has the Indian dairy industry fared. Vishal Gajjar, maintenance engineer at Mother Dairy, Baroda, shares his views on the issues.
Q: Has recession affected your organisation? Kindly mention the growth of your organisation before and after recession i.e., changes in the past 14-18 months.
A: Out of 15-16 lakh kgs per day (LKPD) of milk that Mother Dairy sells in the national capital region, 30-40 per cent (average during the year) is the milk reconstituted from skimmed milk powder (SMP) and other solids. Moreover, more than a quarter of GCMMF's sales (about 13,000 tonnes) were being made to Mother Dairy. Average turnover of mother dairy is Rs 1500 crore and the prices have increased not decreased.
Q: International data reveals that dairy sector is in slump. The dairy markets in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the European market got hit due to this economic slowdown. How has this slowdown impacted the Indian dairy and specifically your organisation?
A: There is no change in exports, it is the same. Small organisations might have got affected due to recession but it has not made much difference as far as big organisations are concerned.
Q: What kind of government help has been received to protect the interest of farmers and milk producers in this recession era?
A: Mother Dairy is a private organisation so Mother Dairy has got no help in particular. However, GCMMF do get certain grants from government.
Q: Please mention if your organisation has any specific plan to deal with recession in the short and long-term?
A: Despite the organisational efforts, there is a large unorganised sector in dairy industry. So the current plan for the organisation is to cover the unorganised market by buying milk from them and increase the market share of the organisation.
Q: Is there any difference in marketing and communication strategy used by your organisation before the recession set in and after the recession? If yes kindly mention.
A: There is no change as far as marketing is concerned. It has in fact increased in all the senses. Even advertisement has increased.
Q: What changes have you made in branding and promotional strategy after the slow down (are there any areas where there is cost cutting done as far as branding and promotional strategy is concerned)?
A: Promotion has increased. Now the new ad about tetra pack is also out as the company has deal to buy new machine for tetra pack and its capacity will be more than 1000 packs per hour.
Q: Kindly communicate the medium your company stresses for promotion? Eg ATL or BTL?
A: The organisation uses both ATL and BTL activity and there is no change in any of the strategies due to recession.
Q: Does your company have any specific mission to fulfil in next 5-10 years?
A: Mother Dairy’s turnover has been growing at the rate of 20 per cent (CAGR) over the last three years. Mother Dairy plans to achieve a turnover of US$ 1 billion by the end of 2009.
Q: Milk being the primary need and with the rising prices of milk, affordability is still an issue. What is your take on that (like chhota butter pack, are there any mini packs for other products in future)?
A: There will be products available in small tetra packs in future to support small buyers.
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