Maahi MPC, whose operations are otherwise limited to Saurashtra and Kutch, is now targeting a turnover of more than Rs 1,700 crore to make its presence felt in north, central and south Gujarat including major cities like Ahmedabad, Baroda and Surat.
Unlike traditional cooperatives, MPCs which are being promoted by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), are governed under the Companies Act.
Maahi, one of the 18 such operational MPCs of India, had commenced commercial operations in March 2013.
Currently, Maahi is procuring 7,06,000 litres milk from 1,01,641 members including 48,231 women members from 2,206 villages from 11 districts including Junagadh, Gir-Somnath, Amreli, Botad, Bhavnagar, Surendranagar, Morbi, Jamnagar, DevBhumi Dwarka, Kutch and Porbandar.
“Now, we will increase our product portfolio with lassi, table and white butter in consumer packets and a range of thick milk shakes,” said Dr Sanjay Govani, chief executive and director of Maahi MPC.
“We have gradually earned the trust of farmers and consumers. But increasing our sales remains a challenge. So, we have adopted a strategy to focus on increasing our reach through rural routes, setting up Maahi Malls and expanding Maahi preferred outlets,” he said. In the existing districts, the MPC has identified 28 rural routes, with each route comprising 5-10 villages. These are those routes where branded dairy products are not available.
“We have started Maahi Malls in villages. We already have 34 such Maahi Malls and our target is to scale them up to 200 by end of this year,” he said, adding that in urban Gujarat, the MPC would be focusing on Maahi preferred outlets.
“Through the Mall concept, we not only sell milk and milk products but also cattle feed products,” he said, adding that currently Maahi’s cattle feed manufacturing capacity stands at 1,600 metric tonnes per month.
