Mother Dairy CEO Paul Thachil in Calcutta on Wednesday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, June 15: Mother Dairy Foods Processing Limited (MDFPL), a subsidiary of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), plans to have a national presence by the end of the current financial year.

The company manufactures and markets dairy products under the Mother Dairy brand as also Dhara edible oils and horticultural products under the Safal brand.

Mother Dairy CEO Paul Thachil said, “We expect to achieve a turnover of Rs 2000 crore this year as against Rs 1500 crore last year. Our exports are also expected to grow to Rs 75 crore from Rs 16 crore last year.”

MDFPL exports skimmed milk powder and fruit pulp to 13 countries in Asia and Africa.

Speaking at the launch of its range of ice creams in the city, Thachil said, “The introduction of ice creams in Calcutta is part of the move to build a national co-operative brand. With a size of 50 lakh litres in the east and a consumption of 35,000 litres milk every day in the city, it is an important market for us.”

Mother Dairy ice creams are also available in Delhi, Mumbai, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. The company is targeting a 20 per cent share of the market by March 2007. Calcutta constitutes 70 per cent of the ice cream market in the east.

“We already have a strong distribution chain for Safal, and our ice creams will ride on this network,” adds Thachil. “We plans to set up 1500 outlets in the next three to four months and expect to take this to 2500 by March next year. We will expand our presence to other districts of the state in a phased manner.”

MDFPL plans to enter the south by December, completing its pan-India footprint.

The company also plans to expand the range of Safal products to include nectars. Currently, the Safal range has fruit juice, frozen peas, fresh fruits and vegetables and jams and ketchup. The entire range will be introduced in the east in a phased manner.