Mother Dairy: A Delicious Case Study (360° View)

Do you know, Mother dairy commands more than 40% of India’s dairy needs. We have researched in-depth about mother dairy that will inspire you to create your own success story. Ready for the delicious Case study!

Mother dairy case study

If you have been born and brought up in the Indian Capital of Delhi, there are chances you might have obviously consumed one or any product from the dairy brand Mother Dairy.

Today I am going to discuss India’s strongest milk brand Mother Dairy, and have put up a case study on how it revolutionized milk manufacturing in the country.

Mother Dairy is not only India’s but Asia’s biggest milk brand, it commands more than 40% of India’s dairy needs with a capacity of producing and processing  2.0 million litres of milk everyday.

Mother Dairy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), of the Government of India. 

Mother-diary

Since its inception in the year 1974, the brand has been synonymous to every household in and around the capital of Delhi, and markets and sells milk and milk products such as ice creams, ghee, paneer, flavoured milk, curd, etc under the Mother Dairy brand.

However, the brand has a diverse portfolio of products which also includes edible oils, fruits and vegetables, pulses, processed fruit juices, jams, and frozen foods.

So, How did Mother Dairy become Asia’s largest milk producer? Let’s talk in detail.

asia-largest-milk-producer

Asia’s Largest Milk Producer

Whether you come from the India capital of Delhi or from the eastern India city of Kolkata, Mother Dairy has been an integral part of all our everyday life.

Mother Dairy has a vast product portfolio and the journey of this mega diary has not been so easy as it seems. Dairy Companies in India are profitable but the operation is not that easy, there are a lot of challenges that a Dairy brand faces, so, how Mother Dairy stepped up the game, let’s find out.

In India all of the Dairy brands have some major things in common, either they are wholly or partly owned by the Government and run on the Cooperative milk model.

Mother Dairy also operates on the same model where it purchases milk from various co-operative bodies and village level organisations and then markets it to the end consumer. 

It purchases milk and farm products from major State-owned Milk Cooperatives in the country.

Then processes it through its plants located at various locations to administer world class quality of products and markets it through its large retail chain to the end customers ensuring hygienic, quality and appetizing milk products.

mother dairy data
Source- Statista
mother dairy milk brand

Some major State-owned Milk Cooperatives are listed below:-

Dairies in India suffer from 5 essential problems

Dairies in India suffer from 5 essential problems:-

Now before we move on to discuss the Biggest dairy brand of the Country Mother Dairy. Let me tell you that Dairies in India suffer from 5 essential problems those are:-

  1. Lack of training and education
  2. Lack of infrastructure and scientific practice
  3. Inadequate availability of fodder 
  4. Absence of veterinary health services
  5. Limited access to financial tools 

Milk Cooperatives have tried to focus on these key problems to benefit the farmers, and milk unions by delivering education and training to farmers, bridging infrastructure gaps, and helping them financially set up their self owned business. 

Mother Dairy, a unit of National Dairy Development Board or NDDB, is the national cooperative board that was created to market and meet the gap between demand and supply by supporting milk producers and small farmers by the help of producer-owned  and controlled organizations. 

Let’s analyze Mother Dairy’s strategy to check how it progressed over the years, and throw some light on how it is going to sustain its future and develop in the competitive journey. 

Beginning the Brand of Mother Dairy

The Beginning :

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) started the brand Mother Dairy in 1974 during the first phase of Operation Flood in 1974.

Overwhelmed by the success of Dairy industry NDDB, then established its Fruit & Vegetable Project in Delhi in 1988 with “SAFAL ” which later merged to form Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Ltd (MDFVL) in April 2000.

Today the brand is a trustworthy household name for its quality range of milk products like Ice-Cream, Dahi, Lassi, Table Butter, Milk, Flavored Milk, Dairy Whitener, Ghee etc.

world class production method

World class Production Method

Mother Dairy is involved in manufacturing of milk and milk products that employs many state of the art technology and production methods comprising processes like Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), KAIZENS, Cost Improvement programs and safer operation methods to ensure zero accidents at plants.

With its numerous programs to assure quality and productivity, Mother Dairy has been accredited as a member of Chamber of Indian Industry, Total Productive Maintenance Club (TPM) for better utilization of resources and maintenance. 

Thus resulting in an increase in Mean Time Between Failure and a decrease in Mean Time To Repair, improved quality reduction in accidents.

Mother Dairy was also felicitated with the “Best Productivity Performance” award many times from National productivity Council. 

It added more stars to its badge by receiving more prestigious Certificates and awards such as the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award, and the National Energy Conservation Award in 2004, It received the Oil and Gas Conservation Award in 2004 and Indian Innovation Award in 2004 and Safety Initiative Award in 2005.

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karnataka milk producer

Business Philosophy of Mother Dairy

Mother Dairy, unlike many other organizations, do not operate for profit maximization and hence run with an objective of helping farmers to increase their income. Its primary motive is to offer the best price for the farmers for their milk rather than making profit. 

Mother Dairy runs with the mission of carrying out activities for the economic development of small scale rural farmers and offering them a channel to sell their produce to all kinds of markets ensuring quality and efficiency. 

The company acts as a network for marketing of milk and dairy produce, and other farm and agricultural produce directly from these farmers with a goal of establishing a Common brand along with a more clustered marketing network with centralized processing, purchase and quality control. 

Building Trustworthiness of Mother dairy

Building Trustworthiness

For any brand Trustworthiness and credibility is one of the most important factors that shapes its journey in the market.

Mother Dairy worked on a set of principles to create trustworthiness among its consumers. Today the biggest strength of the Mother Dairy is its quality and trust among its buyers.

Mother Dairy has strongly communicated its consumers regarding the quality of its products. Mother Dairy as a brand strongly showcased itself as a brand that gives top priority to quality and purity and strongly stood against any kind of adulteration.

Apart from that the brand and its entities have worked like an institution that has helped it network with more than 10 lakh farmers and empower them with the skills and knowledge needed to survive in the dairy business.

visionary product strategy

Visionary Product Strategy

Product Strategy is a very important part of any Product Development and hence requires a lot of market research. Mother Dairy was integrated as a part of Operation flood to support the While Revolution in the Country.

Though, for the First 22 years of its existence, the brand was only catering to a product that was LIQUID MILK a like many other dairy cooperatives.

Over the years the brand did not just settle with the Milk but it underwent a lot of market research and strengthened its base to begin with sale of Ice Cream in the year 1996.

Mother Dairy’s Ice-Cream was highly appreciated and welcomed with open arms by the consumers and after 15 years the brand moved to a much diverse portfolio that now includes Curd, Ghee, Flavoured Milk, Paneer, Butter, Cheese, Misti Doi and Lassi.

With its aggressively increasing portfolio, the brand has also introduced a range of frozen foods and vegetables under the Safal brand.

The Safal brand has Frozen green peas, corn and mixed vegetables, and frozen potato-based snacks that caters to a completely new market and a younger consumer. 

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