Amul, Mother Dairy set to clash in North India  ( August '12,2001, ET)

ONCE under the same family -— the National Dairy Development Board -— milk products giants Amul and Mother Dairy have come a long way now, having carved exclusive niche markets for themselves.

However, with Mother Dairy unveiling plans to launch operations in 20 cities in northern India, the stage seems set for a grand competition between the 'siblings' of yore.

"I don't think we need to panic with Mother Dairy going national. Yes, we will clearly have a healthy competition in the ice-cream sector. Also, we will have another competitor in the market. They have good flavours of ice-creams. So let's see what will happen once they hit the whole country," says Dr R S Khanna, general manager, marketing, Amul.

"The objective is not to fight among ourselves as we are cooperatives. With Mother Dairy going national, the overall share of cooperatives will increase in the country and we should see it from this angle and take things in a positive way,” says a senior official of Mother Dairy.

Both the cooperatives have chalked out ambitious plans for the next five years. The Rs 900-crore Mother Dairy aims to touch Rs 5,000 crore, while Amul wants to position itself as a Rs 10,000-crore cooperative from Rs 2,250 crore in the next five years.

"Initially, ice-creams will be the main sector where both will fight it out. Mother Diary has a marketshare of more than 47 per cent in the National Capital Region and nearly 10 per cent in the entire country, whereas Amul has a 35 per cent marketshare in ice-creams in the country. The next summer will be very hot for both the players,” an industry source says.

"Mother Dairy has two milk plants in Delhi and the combined capacity of these two plants is around 11,000 lakh tonnes daily. The Amul plant in Anand has a capacity of 45,000 lakh tonnes of milk a day. Mother Dairy has a production capacity of nearly 500 kg of ghee a day, while Amul produces nearly 7,500 kg of ghee and butter every day. So, if you really look at their respective capacities, Amul is way ahead of Mother Dairy,” a dairy technologist says.

In such a scenario, it is thus apparent that success would eventually depend on networking and distribution channels, and the one with better marketing strategies will score above the other.

"We at Mother Dairy have access to the NDDB networking and distribution channels. Amul, which is based in Anand, Gujarat, has only access in that state only. We will definitely score on the NDDB platform,” a Dairy official says.

"If Mother Dairy plans to launch operations in 20 cities early next year, then having only two plants won't help. It will have to increase and strengthen its production. In fact, even outsourcing will have to be increased. It will be interesting to wait and watch how Mother Dairy unfolds its plans in the 20 cities,” the dairy technologist says.