INDIA – Milky Mist Dairy Food, one of India’s leading manufacturers of dairy products, has announced plans to expand its state-of-the-art unit 2 processing facility at Chittode in India’s state of Tamilnadu. 

In a LinkedIn post, Milky Mist Dairy Founder and Managing Director Sathish Kumar revealed that the new unit with a built-up area of 400,000 square feet will be built on 15 acres of land adjacent to the company’s existing factory. 

Milky Mist’s expansion is timely as India’s organized dairy sector is projected to post a 5-6% growth in sectoral revenue generation in 2021-22, mainly driven by a robust demand revival for value-added products (VAP) and liquid milk,  as per a report by CRISIL. 

CRISIL notes that India is undergoing a transition from production of plain milk to VAPs and from an unorganized/local to more organized market.  

With increasing population, higher disposable income, higher per-capita consumption, larger vegetarian population, demand for hygiene, etc., the demand for VAPs and milk is bound to increase, the report adds. 

Milky Mist is already enjoying the benefits of this robust demand, reporting an overall revenue of over Rs 1,000 crore (US$136 million) as of March 30, 2021, and a 30% year-on-year growth in FY21.   

Earlier, Milky Mist announced its diversification into daily need consumer products — fresh food industry through acquisition of Asal Foods Industries, for an undisclosed sum.  

  “We expect a 10% revenue share through this acquisition of Asal Foods (Milky Mist earns Rs 1,000 crore as yearly revenues),” Kumar noted. 

“We want to take advantage of our strong supply chain management, with over 15,000 freezers across the country. With onboarding Asal Foods, we expect the average revenue per freezer to grow by 3x.”  

Started in 2012, Asal Foods manufactures ready-to-cook and everyday consumption products like idly dosa batter, chapathi, vada batter, wheat parotta. 

Milky Mist revealed that it will retain the ‘Asal’ brand as it only sees synergies in the distribution channel.  

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