French firm – Groupe Lactalis, owners of popular dairy brand Lactel — has forayed into the domestic market with the launch of UHT toned milk pack. It has set a target of generating Rs 4,500 crore revenue by 2021-22 in the Indian market, Lactalis India managing director Rahul Kumar said on Thursday.

“For this year, turnover is expected to be close to Rs 3,500 crore. This is due to the impact of COVID-19… For 2021-22, we will be targeting Rs 4,500 crore revenue from all three (acquired) companies (Tirumala,Anik, Prabhat), he said.

Groupe Lactalis in 2014 acquired dairy manufacturer Tirumala in 2014 to serve the southern market and later acquired another dairy maker Anik in 2016 to serve Northern markets.

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To serve western market, it acquired dairy products maker Prabhat in 2018.

The UHT toned milk one litre pack is priced at Rs 70 per pack, he said, adding, the company expects to garner around five per cent market share in two years.

According to him, the domestic dairy market was around eight lakh litres per day.

Asked about investment plans, Kumar said the company has been making investments of Rs 100 to Rs 120 crore every year in its acquired brands Tirumala, Anik and Prabhat, respectively.

Kumar said the ready to drink milk segment was growing at a rate of 15 per cent year-on-year in the country and the company”s production capacity was at 20 lakh litres per day.

Source : Outlook India