Mother Dairy’s `24,000 Crore Growth Blueprint

Jayatheertha Chary on value-added dairy, national expansion and a `2,000 crore investment push

“Over the next three years, our ambition is for value-added dairy products to contribute around 40% of our overall dairy business.”

“In FY2026-27, we are targeting over 20% growth in turnover, taking it to ₹24,000 crore.”

Mr. Jayatheertha Chary, 

Managing Director, Mother Dairy

Kalpana Ravi : 

Mother Dairy is entering a new phase of growth, moving beyond its traditional strength in liquid milk and Delhi-NCR to build a broader national dairy and food business. After doubling its turnover from a little over ₹10,000 crore in FY2020-21 to more than ₹20,000 crore in FY2025-26, the company is targeting over 20% growth in FY2026-27, taking turnover to ₹24,000 crore.

Supporting this ambition is an investment of more than ₹2,000 crore across dairy, horticulture and edible oils. At the same time, Mother Dairy is accelerating its focus on value-added dairy, which currently contributes around 25% of its overall dairy business and grew approximately 25% in FY2025-26. Over the next three years, the company aims to make this contribution to around 40%.

The expansion is also geographic. Non-NCR salience in its dairy business has risen from 25% to 38% over the past five years, while Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Telangana are among the markets being prioritised.

In this interaction with Kalpana Ravi, Jayatheertha Chary, Managing Director, Mother Dairy, discusses value-added dairy, national expansion, consumer priorities, marketing investments and the role of Mother Dairy, Safal and Dhara in the company's larger growth agenda.

Value-Added Growth

Value-added dairy products currently contribute around 25% of our overall dairy business, and this is also one of the fastest-growing segments for us. We see significant headroom as dairy consumption continues to diversify and value-added categories become a larger part of the overall food basket.

Category Growth Strategy

Mother Dairy has a strong and well-established position in India's dairy industry, and the strength of our brand has also been recognised in the Brand Finance India 100 2026 ranking, where Mother Dairy is ranked #2 among the top five food brands in the country.

The way India consumes dairy is changing from the morning glass of milk to paneer, cheese, curd, ghee, ice creams and a wider range of consumption occasions. This creates an opportunity to participate in a larger share of consumers' dairy consumption.

Rather than looking at one category in isolation, our focus is on building scale across the portfolio, reinforcing categories where we already have a strong position while investing in those with greater potential.

Beyond Delhi-NCR

While Delhi-NCR continues to be an important market, we have been steadily building a stronger pan-India presence. In recent years, we have expanded into Gujarat, Jaipur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan, and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

For our dairy business, non-NCR salience has increased to 38% from 25% over the last five years, reflecting the progress we have made beyond our traditional strongholds.

Going forward, our focus is on accelerating this journey through strategic expansion into new geographies, deeper distribution and greater presence across new-age channels. Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Telangana, among others, will be important focus areas.

Competitive Advantage

Mother Dairy has established itself as a leading player in the value-added dairy space, with a strong understanding of the Indian consumer and the ability to translate evolving needs into relevant products and propositions.

We have continuously innovated to cater to diverse preferences, pioneering products such as Token Milk, Cow Milk, Probiotic Curd & Drinks, Mishti Doi and Tadka Chaach.

This consumer-led approach continues to shape how we build categories. In butter, we recently commissioned a new table butter manufacturing line in Gujarat and are enhancing the portfolio with butter chiplets. In cheese, we have expanded our offering with Mozzarella, while our 100% milk-based ice cream portfolio sees around 20 new launches every year across formats such as cups, cones and bars.

Ultimately, our advantage lies in understanding consumers deeply and creating greater value across the chain, from offering relevant choices to consumers to creating more avenues for farmers' produce.

National Consumer Strategy

At the core, consumers across markets are looking for the same things from a dairy brand, trust, quality, consistency and value. What differs is how these needs translate into consumption preferences, occasions and category choices.

Our focus is on taking the strength and trust of the Mother Dairy brand to a wider consumer base, understanding regional preferences, building the right category mix and ensuring strong availability in each market.

The opportunity is to bring the same brand promise to consumers across the country while making our offerings relevant to the way they consume every day.

Marketing Investment Shift

As we expand, our marketing investments are also evolving. For us, it is not simply about spending more, but about being where our consumers are and creating stronger relevance for the brand.

Over the last few years, we have significantly stepped-up investments across platforms, from marquee sporting properties such as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, ICC Champions Trophy and IPL to entertainment-led associations and a stronger digital presence.

These platforms allow us to engage consumers across categories and consumption occasions, while helping us build stronger connections with younger consumers. The objective is to build awareness and trial, but equally to drive stronger category adoption.

Ultimately, we want to make Mother Dairy a more relevant part of consumers' everyday lives, across more markets, categories and occasions.

“The objective is to build awareness and trial, but equally to create stronger category adoption.”

40% Value-Added Ambition

Value-added dairy products are already major contributors to our growth, with the portfolio witnessing around 25% growth in FY2025-26 over the previous fiscal year.

Going forward, we have aggressive plans for this portfolio, supported by planned capacity expansions across Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. Over the next three years, our ambition is for the value-added dairy products portfolio to contribute around 40% of our overall dairy business.

₹24,000 Crore Roadmap

The last half a decade has been a period of significant transformation for us. We have doubled our turnover from a little over ₹10,000 crore in FY2020-21 to more than ₹20,000 crore in FY2025-26.

We are now building this momentum with an ambitious growth agenda. In FY2026-27, we are targeting over 20% growth in turnover, taking it to ₹24,000 crore.

We are investing more than ₹2,000 crore across our three verticals to build the capacity and infrastructure required to support expansion. This includes dairy processing plants across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Telangana and Bihar; horticulture facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat; and an edible-oil packaging plant in Maharashtra.

These investments, along with our continued focus on strengthening distribution and expanding market presence, will enable us to scale across categories and geographies.

What gives us confidence is the strength of our core capabilities, our farmer network and procurement capabilities, manufacturing footprint and distribution reach. We are building for scale while leveraging the distinct strengths of Mother Dairy, Safal and Dhara. Together, these brands give us the breadth to participate across multiple categories and geographies, and we see all three playing an important role in our larger growth ambition.