Reliance now looks to tap dairy secto

Chandigarh, October 26 After launching the farm-to-fork project in Punjab, Reliance Industries is now making a foray in the milk business in both Punjab and Haryana, with their brand “Dairy Pure”. By the end of 2008, the company plans to collect 10 lakh litres of milk everyday from both these states.
Sources in the company said a couple of months back, RIL had started a pilot project in Punjab and Hyderabad regarding milk procurement and its chilling, processing and marketing. To start with, the company is collecting some 50,000 litres of milk per day from 450 villages in Punjab and 200 villages in Haryana through the cooperative method.
At present, Dairy Pure is available in Ludhiana, Chandigarh and Hyderabad, primarily at Reliance Fresh outlets. However, soon it will be available at all the district headquarters of both Punjab and Haryana, besides other important cities and towns, namely Jalandhar, Amritsar, Bathinda, Karnal, Ambala, Hoshiarpur and in all the Reliance Fresh shops, said company sources.
“To attract customers towards Dairy Pure, the company is keeping its price 50 paise less per litre then the other brands in the market. The milk is coming in two packings, half litre and one litre,’’ said an official.
Sources said the company has taken a milk plant on lease in Ludhiana, which will initially meet the milk demand in Punjab. The other plant is at Saha in Haryana and will cater to Haryana and Chandigarh. But the company is also planing to set up its own milk plant in Punjab.
Besides, the other main feature is that in every village from where milk is being procured by RIL, it has installed a fat and solid net fat machine to check the fat and other contents in the milk. These machines have been imported from Bulgaria, as at present the machines being used by the cooperatives can only check the fat content. Also, this machine gives an instant result and a print comes out, after which the farmer is paid on the spot depending on the quality of his milk, said company sources.
“In each village, our investment has been Rs 1 lakh,’’ said an official.
He said after procuring the milk, the company has established chilling centres, one centre for very 50 villages, where the milk is chilled and then transported to milk plants for final processing.
“Our objective is that the milk is chilled in two hours, as other companies take about four hours, thus making us ahead of the lot,’’ said an official.
Sources said with the entry of the corporate giant in the milk procurement process in Punjab, there will be an increase in procurement by private milk plants.
Such milk plants in Punjab have increased their capacities substantially. They are now offering higher returns to dairy farmers and cooperative milk producer unions than the rates offered by Milkfed. Even then, the private milk producers are able to process only up to 50 per cent of their capacity.
The daily milk production in Punjab is to the tune of 213 lakh litres a day. While 55 per cent of the produce is retained by dairy farmers for self-consumption and 20 per cent is procured by the unorganised sector, the remaining 25 per cent is the marketable surplus for milk plants (private and cooperative milk plants).