Venkat Krishna Reddy Busireddy, CEO, Dodla Dairy | The CEO Magazine

Milk is a staple of the Indian diet, believed to bring good health and even a kind of spiritual purity to those who drink it. Aside from being enjoyed on its own, milk is used in everything from coffee to curry and paneer.

Around a quarter of the world’s milk is made in India, with cow and buffalo milk the most common varieties, but goat, camel, yak and sheep milk – as well as plant-based options – are also available.

The ceaseless demand for milk means India’s dairies are never short of work. Almost three decades since Dodla Dairy was founded, CEO Venkat Krishna Reddy Busireddy says the leading dairy concern remains one of India’s fastest growing.

“When we launched in 1998, Chennai was our first market,” he tells The CEO Magazine. “By the third year we entered Bangalore, and then the Hyderabad market the following year.”

Rising demand

Today, Dodla Dairy has a presence in 15 Indian states, with 18 processing plants and 300 milk chilling centers in its portfolio. A further two plants are up and running in Kenya and Uganda, with a third to follow.

At home, Dodla Retail Parlours have stocked milk, ice cream, ghee, paneer, buttermilk, lassi and other dairy products across more than 1,200 locations for the last decade, ensuring a permanent link from grass to glass.

Busireddy, a veteran of the Amul dairy cooperative and Dodla Dairy’s first-ever employee, says its presence in the state of Maharashtra has given his company a serious advantage.

“Compared to Karnataka or Tamil Nadu, production of milk is much higher here,” he says. “Yes, there are a lot of dairies in Tamil Nadu, but 65 percent of those are private dairies. Availability of milk is also very high in Maharashtra, which made the choice to settle here obvious.”

It’s just as well: every day, the company procures 1.7 million liters of fresh milk from farmers across five states. Village collection centers allow it to work directly with farmers to keep supplies going.

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“Working with Dodla Dairy has been a real partnership. For 25 years, we have supplied packing material to a business that never stops, where every pack has to perform. Dodla’s focus on quality and its belief in growing together with suppliers has pushed us to raise our own standards. We are proud to be part of their journey.” – Anshul Agarwal, Managing Director, Deejay MultiPacks

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With all that milk flowing through Dodla Dairy’s operational veins, it’s no wonder they’ve spent the last decade breaking new ground.

“We’ve done a lot of greenfield expansion, but we’ve done some brownfield as well,” Busireddy says. “All our African operations are brownfield, for instance, and our acquisitions in Jharkhand and Tamil Nadu are brownfield. Greenfield takes time, so when the opportunity to acquire an existing dairy comes up in an area that’s new to us, we take it.”

New frontiers

India’s eastern states have been a particular focus for the CEO, who says the country’s south is already full of private dairies.

“But the east is growing, and that’s why we ultimately landed in Bihar and Jharkhand,” he says. “We have an expectation that the future of the industry is the east, so we have a great advantage in these states.”

The African expansion came about in 2013, when investors suggested that Dodla Dairy look beyond its own borders. China was a momentary consideration, but Busireddy says Africa made more sense.

“Initially we met with the Ethiopian ambassador, but when we visited the country, the environment was too dry for our needs,” he says. “Then an opportunity arose in Uganda, and as there was already a plant in operation there, we jumped in. The margins there are much more lucrative than in India, so we turned the small plant around and started exporting.”

When 90 percent of the Ugandan plant’s volume began making its way into Kenya, Dodla Dairy executives were intrigued.

“Kenya turned out to be a very big market, so we acquired a plant there as well. Now, our Kenya volumes come from that plant.”

From farm to market

Keeping things internal mirrors Dodla Dairy’s approach back in India, where much of the milk produced stays in the country.

“Our dairies are entirely self-sufficient. We’re not dependent on anything,” Busireddy says. “Some dairies source milk from third parties, but we procure, process and sell on our own. They’re the three major pillars of this industry, and we’re proud to be able to handle them all.”

Not without some help, however. Local partner Deejay Multipacks provides the packaging materials for the Dodla Dairy range of dairy delights, which Busireddy says are a fantastic value-add for the company.

“It used to be rare to see paneer anywhere other than North India,” he explains. “It’s a major source of protein, but it just wasn’t that widespread. Now we produce, package and sell paneer, and it’s jumped right up in value. Curd makes up close to 30 percent of our sales, with nearly all of it sold in the south.”

Elsewhere, the most important allies are the farmers. Busireddy says that thanks to advances in technology, the procurement stage is easier than ever.

“Originally, we’d pay in cash, and our supervisors would have to carry cash to the villages. That was very stressful,” he says. “But now that everything’s digitized, that’s not a problem. Everything’s automated and totally transparent, and as a result our relationship with the farmers is very strong.”

This close bond is one of the ways Dodla Dairy is able to adhere to its mantra, he adds.

“Come what may, we don’t compromise on quality. It’s as simple as that. In any meeting we’re happy to say that making money isn’t our job. If you do things right, the money will come, so get it right in the first place,” he concludes.