Mother dairy's her­it­age is intrinsically linked to cooper­at­ive

Speak­ing to Out­look, Mother Dairy’s Dy. Man­aging Dir­ector, Shri Jayatheer­tha Chary says that the com­pany’s her­it­age is intrins­ic­ally linked to the cooper­at­ive move­ment, as it strives to provide qual­ity food and bever­age options to con­sumers while ensur­ing fair returns to the pro­du­cers. How has Mother Dairy bal­anced its social mis­sion with its com­mer­cial growth over the years, and what has been the most ful­filling aspect of this dual role?

Rooted in Oper­a­tion Flood, Mother Dairy’s jour­ney has focused on deliv­er­ing value to both farm­ers and con­sumers. Our focus has been two­fold: ensur­ing sus­tain­able, fair returns for farm­ers, while provid­ing con­sumers super­ior-qual­ity products.

India today leads the world in milk pro­duc­tion, with milk being its largest agri­cul­tural crop. Mother Dairy has played a pivotal role in strength­en­ing the dairy sec­tor and sup­port­ing India’s agri-cent­ric eco­nomy. Over the years, we have strengthened farmer-based insti­tu­tions, a net­work that brings together over 10 lakh farm­ers from 30,000 vil­lages across 12 states, sup­ply­ing milk to serve mil­lions of house­holds daily.

In the last five dec­ades, Mother Dairy has grown into a trus­ted con­sumer brand, built on qual­ity, innov­a­tion, and trust. From enhan­cing infra­struc­ture at the grass­roots to pro­mot­ing dairy con­sump­tion in diverse formats, each step for­ward com­mer­cially has mirrored a step for­ward socially. The most ful­filling aspect is the tan­gible dif­fer­ence we make – empower­ing com­munit­ies, sup­port­ing socioeco­nomic growth, and earn­ing the trust of fam­il­ies nation­wide. This con­ver­gence of pur­pose and per­form­ance defines Mother Dairy’s jour­ney.

What are the key mile­stones in Mother Dairy’s jour­ney that you believe truly defined the brand, and how have you nav­ig­ated the chal­lenges of a rap­idly chan­ging mar­ket?

Over the years, Mother Dairy has set sev­eral industry bench­marks.we estab­lished the dairy industry’s first ded­ic­ated R&D centre, under­scor­ing our com­mit­ment to innov­a­tion and con­sumer-cent­ri­city.we were the first to intro­duce branded bulk-ven­ded milk (Token Milk), for­ti­fied milk, and spe­cies-spe­cific Cow Milk, which has since become India’s largest-selling cow milk brand.we also intro­duced unique offer­ings like Tadka Chaach, Set Curd, Mishti Doi, Kulfis, Promilk, and India’s first pro­bi­otic dairy product, Nutri­fit, in 2007.

Our brand Safal pion­eered organ­ized fruit and veget­able retail in India, rede­fin­ing con­sumer access to fresh, high-qual­ity pro­duce through a farmer-first, trans­par­ent sup­ply chain – with over 120 vari­et­ies offered annu­ally. Safal also trans­formed habits in the 1990s by intro­du­cing frozen peas and later a wide range of frozen veget­ables and snacks, now avail­able across 26 states. Bey­ond retail,

Safal is among India’s lead­ing pulp pro­cessing brands, sup­ply­ing qual­ity fruit pulps to over 40 coun­tries.

Dhara edible oils led game chan­ging ini­ti­at­ives in the industry, intro­du­cing tamper-proof tetra packs and vit­am­in­for­ti­fied edible oils. Trust, pur­ity, qual­ity and taste are the hall­marks of Dhara, which has expan­ded across 27 states while guid­ing con­sumers toward respons­ible, informed edible oil con­sump­tion.

In an era where con­sumer expect­a­tions and food trends are con­stantly evolving, how does Mother Dairy con­tinue to innov­ate and uphold its prom­ise of pur­ity and qual­ity to a new gen­er­a­tion?

Mother Dairy has built a strong, endur­ing bond with its con­sumers, nur­tured across gen­er­a­tions.we recog­nize that trust is built on con­sist­ency, qual­ity, and rel­ev­ance in every­day life. Under­stand­ing our con­sumers is in our DNA; we act­ively engage with our con­sumers to keep pace with their evolving needs and expect­a­tions, pla­cing these insights at the core of our innov­a­tion.

Our com­mit­ment to pur­ity is rein­forced through rig­or­ous qual­ity con­trols and trans­par­ent sourcing prac­tices. Sup­por­ted by our Innov­a­tion Centre and NABL-accred­ited labor­at­ory, we main­tain the highest stand­ards of excel­lence. This com­mit­ment is evid­ent in the nearly 5.5 bil­lion packs we serve annu­ally, span­ning over 500 SKUS across 30 product cat­egor­ies – con­sist­ently meet­ing the diverse needs of mil­lions of con­sumers.

Look­ing ahead, we will con­tinue to drive innov­a­tion while stay­ing true to our core val­ues, ensur­ing pur­ity, safety, and qual­ity remain uncom­prom­ised.

The dairy industry is heav­ily reli­ant on a vast net­work of farm­ers and cooper­at­ives. As the face of a com­pany that is so closely tied to

India’s agri­cul­tural back­bone, what is your most mem­or­able exper­i­ence work­ing with the dairy farm­ing com­munity?

At Mother Dairy, our com­mit­ment to bridging the gap between farm­ers and con­sumers has remained stead­fast. We chan­nel 75 80% of milk sales real­iz­a­tion back into pro­cure­ment, thereby ensur­ing the sus­tain­ab­il­ity of dairy farm­ing and the con­sist­ent avail­ab­il­ity of qual­ity milk.

One of our most impact­ful ini­ti­at­ives has been in the agri­cul­tur­ally dis­tressed regions of Marath­wada and Vid­arbha, where dairy has emerged as a depend­able source of live­li­hood. Through cooper­at­ive efforts, more than 35,000 farm­ers have been empowered. The jour­ney, which began with just 170 litres of milk pro­cure­ment, has now expan­ded to over 4 lakh litres daily, gen­er­at­ing cumu­lat­ive farmer earn­ings of more than Rs. 2,500 crores since the project’s incep­tion.

This pro­gress has been driven by stra­tegic inter­ven­tions and the trust asso­ci­ated with the Mother Dairy brand, which has helped cul­tiv­ate con­sumer pref­er­ence for pack­aged dairy products from the region. This, in turn, cre­ated demand, boos­ted pro­cure­ment, and ulti­mately improved farmer incomes. In just nine years, we have estab­lished a robust dairy value chain in the region – from pro­cure­ment and pro­cessing to dis­tri­bu­tion through our booth model – deliv­er­ing last­ing value for all stake­hold­ers.

Sus­tain­ab­il­ity is becom­ing increas­ingly crit­ical for busi­nesses. What steps is Mother Dairy tak­ing to build a more sus­tain­able and envir­on­ment­ally con­scious sup­ply chain, from farm to con­sumer?

Sus­tain­ab­il­ity has been at the core of Mother Dairy since our very first offer­ing, Token Milk. In today’s world, sus­tain­ab­il­ity is no longer optional; it is a respons­ib­il­ity and a stra­tegic imper­at­ive. Under the guid­ance of our Chair­man Dr. Meenesh Shah, we have been act­ively advan­cing envir­on­mental stew­ard­ship across our entire value chain. From har­ness­ing solar energy at vil­lage pool­ing points and installing solar plants at mul­tiple pro­cessing facil­it­ies, to rain­wa­ter har­vest­ing and water recyc­ling, we are driv­ing resource effi­ciency at scale.

We take pride in being the first amongst dairy brands to par­ti­cip­ate in the Union Gov­ern­ment’s Exten­ded Pro­du­cer Respons­ib­il­ity (EPR) pro­gramme and even­tu­ally attain­ing the status of a plastic waste neut­ral organ­isa­tion.

Can you share your vis­ion for the com­pany’s future and how you plan to nav­ig­ate the com­pet­it­ive land­scape while stay­ing true to the core val­ues?

Mother Dairy has played a pivotal role in India’s Oper­a­tion Flood jour­ney by empower­ing rural com­munit­ies and strength­en­ing the nation’s nutri­tional secur­ity. While much has been achieved, the jour­ney is ongo­ing. The road ahead calls for con­tinu­ous innov­a­tion, greater integ­ra­tion of tech­no­logy, and sus­tained sup­port for our dairy farm­ers. Look­ing for­ward, we also aspire to play a defin­ing role in real­iz­ing India’s ambi­tion of becom­ing the Dairy to theworld.

Over the past five dec­ades, we have stead­ily expan­ded our foot­print, mak­ing our brands trus­ted house­hold names across India. Today, milk sales from Delhi and other regions con­trib­ute almost equally, while Safal and Dhara con­tinue to strengthen their pres­ence across diverse mar­kets. To drive the next phase of growth, we are invest­ing `1,500 crores in new facil­it­ies – a state-of-the-art mega dairy pro­cessing plant in Nag­pur, fruit and veget­able pro­cessing units in Gujarat and Andhra Pra­desh, and an edible oil pack­aging facil­ity in Nag­pur.

We are also expand­ing into inter­na­tional mar­kets – our foray into the UAE strengthens our pres­ence in the MENA region, while ship­ments to Aus­tralia, Singa­pore, Mal­dives, Maur­i­tius, and other mar­kets mark the begin­ning of our global jour­ney.

As we grow, our pri­or­it­ies remain clear – expand respons­ibly, innov­ate with pur­pose, and uphold the val­ues that define us – cre­at­ing endur­ing value across the eco­sys­tem we serve.

We take pride in serving mil­lions of house­holds every day, with around 5.5 bil­lion packs sold annu­ally across more than 500 SKUS span­ning 30 product cat­egor­ies – Shri Jayatheer­tha Chary, Dy. Man­aging Dir­ector, Mother Dairy.

Source : Dairynews7x7 Dec 21st 2025 First published here