POLLACHI:
ABT Industries Limited, the dairy division of Rs 6,000-crore Sakthi Group of Companies, has chalked out a Rs 180 crore investment plan for capacity addition and promote value-added products such as cheese, paneer, yogurt and sterlised flavoured milk.
The expansion plans of the company will be undertaken at the simmed milk unit at Pollachi, milk processing plant at Krishnagiri and two such plants in Kerala.
C P Charles, senior president (Operations), ABT Industries said that the first plant of ABT Industries in Kerala will come up by March 2017 in Ernakulam district. Another plant will be set up in North Kerala.
“We want to increase our total milk sales from 2.30 lakh litre/day to 10 lakh litre/day by 2025. Currently, the company procures from 15,560 farmers in and around Pollachi. In Kerala, we sell one lakh litre milk on a daily basis.
Our target is to sell two lakh litre of milk in two years in the state,” he said. There are 46 units under the Sakthi Group umbrella with 17 companies in Agri, Auto, Finance and Power Sector, 18 educational institutions from schools to professional colleges, 4 Health Care institutions and 7 CSR establishments.
The company provides technical inputs on artificial insemination services, animal health services, fodder development activities, feeding, nutrition and training.
“Dairy Clinics established by the company is addressing the breeding and health issues of the animals of the members,” he said
s.
The average milk production by a farmer in the country is 7 litre/day whereas the average milk production of a dairy farmer who comes under ABT Industries is 7.3 litre/day, he noted. The Indian dairy industry is worth Rs 80,000 crore but only 20 per cent comes from the organised sector. The growth rate is 25 per cent.
ABT Industries’ dairy division is initiating a farming concept for the promotion of dairy farms, to get the comparative advantage in milk production. To achieve this, it has adopted an integrated farm model for productivity increase as well as volumes from farms, with a target of achieving 15 lakh litres per day by 2025.
However, the short-term objective is to increase the production from the current 1.8 lakh litres per day to 3 lakh litres in the next two years, says CP Charles.
With a strong demand for milk and milk products at the rate of 10-15 per cent annum as well as growth in dairy business in the organised segment coupled with the renewed focus of global companies in this trade in India has prompted ABT Industries to augment productivity and quality. The model would involve facilitating induction of high yielding breeds that would produce on an average 15 litres milk per day from the current 7.3 lakh litres per 
day.
The size of those proposed farms would be 15-plus animals and the model will also encourage automation of dairy farms, helping farmers construct reasonably good animal shelter, supplying of good quality feed, animal breeding, nutrition management, etc.
“ABT Industries wants to add value to the dairy produce of the local villages. The Village Level Collection Centres (VLCC) are equipped with computerised milk scanners and the milk procured is analysed for fat, solids-not- fat and added water. The milk thus procured is brought to the milk pooling points established at strategic locations in a cluster of villages where single or multiple Bulk Milk Coolers (BMC) are installed to cool the milk to 4 Deg C.
Various quality control tests (17) are conducted at the BMC level to further ensure the quality of milk,” said Baby Joseph, officer on special duty, ABT Industries.
Plans are also afoot to set up a new packaging unit in Kerala, the second largest market after Tamil Nadu with a capacity of 50,000 litres per day, he said adding that another plant for ultra high temperature milk with high shelf life will also be in the offing.
A Farmer centric procurement system is being practised by Shakthi Group wherein fresh milk is procured from 12500 select farmers through company owned milk collections centres to ensure best quality. The Village Level Collection Centres (VLCC) are equipped with Computerised Milk Scanners and the milk procured is analysed for Fat, Solids-not- fat & added water.
The company extends necessary technical inputs focussing its member- producers. These include, Artificial Insemination services, Animal Health services, Fodder development activities, Feeding & Nutrition, Training & Extension, etc.
Processing and products manufacturing is done at the state of the art modernised dairy plant of 4 lakh ltrs per day capacity located at Pollachi. The dairy is an ISO 22000:2005 certified plant with the requir
ed licenses as per the law of the land for manufacturing milk products.
Milk in poly pouches, Curd in pouches & cup,Butter Milk, Lassi, Butter, Ghee, Paneer, Skimmed Milk Powder, Whole Milk Powder, Dairy Whitener, etc., are being manufactured at this plant and marketed in the brand name Sakthi.
Butter is manufactured in a Continuous Butter Making machine imported from France. The butter is produced as per international standards. Melted Butter is pumped directly from the butter silo to the modern kettles for manufacturing pure cow ghee.
Milk Powder and Dairy Whitener are manufactured in the state-of- the-art PLC system based milk drying plant. The Powder plant is designed to manufacture agglomerated & non-agglomerated powders in tall form dryers fitted with high pressure automising nozzles imported from Denmark.
ABTIL also manufactures Ready to Cook (RTC) mixes like Pongal mix, Rava Dosa mix, Rava Idly mix and Upma mix in the brand name ABT Foods.. Its dessert/sweet line includes Payasam mix and Gulab Jamun mix.
