Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd widened its losses to ₹157.70 crore in the financial year 2019-20 from ₹91.83 crore in the previous financial year due to increase in raw milk procurement prices. Despite the pandemic disruptions, the company expects to post a “healthy bottomline” in FY20-21.
According to its latest RoC filing, sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler, total revenues grew by 9.4 per cent to ₹10,447.13 crore in FY 2019-20 from ₹9,548.42 crore in FY 2018-19.
A company spokesperson told BusinessLine that revenue growth was largely led by the volume growth witnessed by the company across its businesses. “The fiscal year 2019-20 had witnessed significant increase in the raw milk procurement prices by about ₹6-7 per kg which could not be completely compensated by taking commensurate MRP hikes, thus resulting in losses,” the spokesperson added.
Replying to queries on expectations for the current financial year, the company said, “During FY20-21, MDFVPL is confident of posting revenue growth despite severe disruption caused by Covid-induced lockdowns. With normalisation of the raw milk prices coupled with cost optimisation measures taken by the company, the company is likely to post a healthy bottomline during the financial year.”
New products
In the past few months, the wholly-owned subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board, has entered new categories and launched new products, to meet evolving consumer needs with heightened focus on health and hygiene during the pandemic. Mother Dairy made a significant foray in the breads category last year with the launch of four variants in the Delhi-NCR region. It also launched packaged Haldi Milk and frozen Jamun pulp to strengthen its nutritious and immunity-boosting offerings. In the festival season, it also expanded its milk-based sweets portfolio.
During the Covid-induced lockdown last year, the milk and milk products company, swifty ramped up its kiosks and supply network to maintain undisrupted supplies of milk and other products in the Delhi-NCR region, especially in containment zones. Safal, the fruits and vegetable arm of Mother Dairy, has also partnered with Zomato for home delivery of fresh farm produce in the Delhi-NCR region.
Source : The Hindu business line Jan 7th 2021 written by Meenakshi Verma Ambwani