 Hello and welcome to the Amul Exclusive on ExchangeForMedia.com. My name is Nazia and with me today is Mr. Jayan Mehta, MD, Amul, India. Mr. Mehta, thank you so much for joining us for this exclusive interview. I would like to begin by asking you marketers, I had a tough time last year, the market was at an all-time low, there was recession, there was war, there were uncertainties. Yet Amul financials showed a very steady growth of 18.4%, what were the factors that worked for you? We have, our business is built on 45 strong verticals, one is the fresh product portfolio, and the which comprises of milk, butter, milk, fresh paneer and all that stuff. So that is doing very well, exceedingly well, so that's grown by more than 20%. The second one is our daily products, which is the butter and the cheese and the milk powders and the tetrapacmilk and all that. So that has, that segment also has been a very good resurgence in this entire market. And in product categories, we have seen double digit growth coming very, very, and double digit volume growth coming across the category. And the third is what we call the frozen product division. So ice creams, which has French fries and the cheese and so on. Sorry, the frozen baby snacks and the frozen potato snacks, frozen pizza and all that. So this, the frozen, the ice cream segment has grown very well and we saw more than 40% growth coming from that segment. And then comes the commodity segment. So commodity is one business where we have surpluses, we try to sell it through our Amul dairy trade portal. So this is the opt-in portal in which we get buyers from about across the country, more than 2500 customers participate in our options. We do about 8 to 10 options every day and about in last one year, we did more than 2500 options. So that also, we got good market, I mean sales and also the price realization was pretty good. And then the fifth one is the international business exports. We export our products to more than 40, 50 countries around the world, both commodities and consumer tax. And that business is also growing very well because our products are getting into the mainstream in many cases, the puny and the key and the tetrapactin and all that. So that's also getting, we're getting good traction, we added more countries. And that business also is very promising and it's going very well. So all said and done, all these five business verticals or the pillars of our business are doing very well. One major trend for our industry is the tailwinds of consumers shifting from unbranded and loose to package unbranded. And so post-COVID people realize that health is very important and for food you cannot compromise. So more and more people are shifting into package mail, package money, package COA, all the package stuff items. So that's giving us a good opportunity to grow the business in a very big way. And this year also we are planning a growth of 20 percent and the GCA turnover will increase from 55,000 to about 66,000 to 7,000 crore rupees. An unbranded turnover from 72,000 crores will go up to 85,000 crores or so. We wish you all the best. We hope that you achieve more than you wish. So you just spoke about overseas business for Amul. So which is your, other than India, which are your biggest markets abroad? And is it only popular amongst Indians, NRIs, or is it also the locals that consume Amul? See the main reason for the brand to go global is the NRI segment. Because they are familiar with Amul and that gives us the easy foothold in the market. We are exporting to the US, we are exporting to Canada, we are also exporting to the Middle East, the entire Southeast Asia market and also far East, including Japan, Australia, New Zealand and so on. So the NRI market is a very, very promising market for us. And that gives us an entry into the market. But having said that now we are entering into products like French fries, which has a huge demand. So we created new markets, Philippines, Japan, Middle East, Malaysia. So all these other markets are also there available for us to sell our products. Any new markets that you are likely to enter this year? I'm sorry? New markets that you are likely to enter this year? We entered into about 12 countries of Africa last couple of years. We will be adding another 5-6 more countries there. So that means it's all round way of expanding, growing the market and adding more products in every market. So you are a legacy brand on television. Your ads are in demand and people look up to your ads. But now you're also there on digital, right? So what is the percentage of business coming from online and versus offline outlets and what are your digital spends like? Amul is big in digital for a primary reason that we are in business of creating content. So that is where we get a huge boost in our visibility and actually with very limited spends. I'll put it in a different perspective. Okay, the TV programs and TV shows and TV advertising business is known to you. We sponsored MasterShop this year and we did many other activities on television. But in digital if you don't know this for last four years, three and a half years now post-COVID, during COVID onwards, we are running a very popular show on our Facebook page, the Simple Homemade Recipes. So far, we have done more than 5100 shows, non-stop for last 1100 days, with connecting more than 3,500 to 4,000 shares. Okay, they come and present their content on our Amul Facebook page, which is viewed by a large number of people in India and around the world. Okay, now all this is content available, this play of recipes in a very unique way. Lies by the chefs and that is huge content for us now that for that we are now then making a star post and also promoting on YouTube and so on. So this is one small way of content creation I mentioned to you. Okay, having said that, we are presenting now more than 13 languages in social media. So Amul pages across Facebook, Insta, Twitter, in 12 Indian languages and the 13th one is Arabic. So we speak to our customers in their mother tongue. Eve or she may be in Assam, or Bengal, or Urvisha, or Andhra Pradesh, Chen, Tamil Nadu, Malayali, Kannad, Marathi, Punjabi, even Sindhi, and we will be soon launching a Bhujpuri page also. So the best way to connect to the audience is in their mother tongue and that's also giving us a Bhujpuri. So that leads to enormous content creation because we do about three to five hundred posts every month and across multiple languages and all that stuff. And the third and a very big part of our brand communication is the sports association. So as you are aware, we are now official partners of nine out of ten IPL teams this year. We were the partners of five IPL teams last year. We were the sponsors of the Indian contingent to Olympic Commonwealth Games last year. We'll be doing for the Asian Games this year. We are official sponsors of the all five WPL women Premier League teams for the next three years. OK, and most importantly, we were partner, the average partners to the Kabaddi League, the average partners to the Volleyball League. And now, and you know, the most best part of our association last year was with Argentina and Portugal football teams during FIFA and Argentina went on to win the World Cup and all. So all this helps us in create a lot of content in digital. So it's not just the advertising expenses, the content and the power of communication using the right medium for the right target audience. Meet house for the recipes to youth for the sports and the general audience person. Looked upon as a very bold brand, you know, all the topical issues you've always taken a stand with your activity. But that is also that is also the pilot at the main fundamental part of our content creation, because the topic has come almost every alternate day. And that also gives a huge conversation opportunity for the branch brand. So how much has this helped you? You know, the your bold stands on all, you know, from everything and on all topical issues. You would be the first one to come out with a, you know, that that that's a part of this campaign, which is all running since the last 50, 55 years. I know, because I that many, that's a very lucky campaign. And it's been doing very well because of the power of the consistency of the communication and the butter girl is free to talk about any single issue and every single issue in India and around the world. So obviously, this is the best thing going for us. So what is your overall marketing strategy? How is the media mix? Like if I have to compare it, media has to go where the consumers are. OK, so people, I mean, we are among the top advertisers on television. We are among the top advertisers in print. We have been the top advertisers in radio. We have the top advertisers in outdoors. So across the medium, we ensure that we need to be where our consumers are. And the digital strategy already spiked out. So all that I mean, considering that this brand spends less than one percent of its turnover on advertising, if we have to like how much on traditional, how much on digital. So what would you do? Many of the lines converge because when you are doing a master chef and in a master chef, you can run a cheese recipe contest and then a thousand participants come and you give them space on your Facebook page to participate in a contest, show their recipes and the best recipes from them are selected by the master chef judges. And some of them come get a chance to come on the show. So this is what you can't say in the end here in digital stats. OK, it is all a very, very well integrated strategy in which you are able to interplay the strength and end of the dates where the consumer is. The consumer is not saying, you know, I'm going to watch only TV. I'm going to be only on Facebook and Instagram. The consumer does everything on the time simultaneously. And that's how we make it a very smooth and seamless brand and marketing integration. So would you like to speak on the latest thing that you're entering a new market and it has become a controversial issue? So would you like to talk about it? You've been entering so many new markets. Have you seen this kind of a response ever before? See, the entry into Karnataka is not new. As you may be aware, we have been sending Amulmalkin, Mubli, Belgao, region of North Karnataka since 2015. So Karnataka entry is not new and we are both cooperatives. We are not adversaries. We have been bought. We have both organizations work on the same values, philosophies, business model, both have come out of this model itself. And we have been collaborating and working together for decades together. Having said that entry into Bangalore, it was a very calibrated attempt to enter the market only to service the niche segment through the e-commerce channel. We, Bangalore, Nandini has a huge price advantage. They're selling the products at about thirty nine forty rupees a liter for toned milk as compared to two four, the price which you paid, Bombay and Delhi. We can't use our price there. We did not undercut it. And our effort is to only sell three commerce channels and that to a few SKUs, the toned milk, the full same milk and the curd. And the set of customers who are used to buy online can get it. We did not launch it through our parlours. We did not launch it through the GT route. So this is how we got into that. Really, for the people who have migrated to Bangalore, who were used to it? Even, even, even Karnataka is going to try out Amul Masri today. It's very good. So it's not we are targeting a non, no, non-local segment. The announcement was made on our Amul Karnataka page only. So it will be your Tamil or Telugu page to do that. So you've already done so well in all the domains, in all aspects. But what, what would be your five year plan? Where do you want to take Amul next? No, so we, we have identified several pillars of growth. So if you have nine billion dollars today, how do we add another billion dollar in my different categories? So we identified a billion dollar category, say in organic, which is where of new entry strategies and that's where we are going to learn. We have launched already eight different products, including Arta, Basmati rice, different types of pulses. We shall be soon launching organic tea, organic sugar, jaggery, a lot of spices and so on. So everything you perhaps consume in your kitchen will be organic. Apart from the Amul range of dairy products, we also have launched oil and our strategy is to launch oil at a hundred rupees price point. Now this is the first time in India, somebody is doing it. The price remains fixed, the volume changes depending on the changing dynamics in the oil market. So beating the inflation and being assured of a standard price is what is our strategy in the oil space. Otherwise, the dairy business, I just mentioned to you and the other dairy related products also I mentioned to you. The other vertical we are looking at is protein, in which we are going to launch a range of protein based products. The protein less than buttermilk already in the market. We shall soon be launching protein yogurt, protein shakes, protein water, high protein milk, high protein cookies, high protein ice creams. Are you also looking at launching plant based products? No, we are a dairy based company and the plant based products are organic stuff. So there is no, so the dairy business stays as it is. And there is no question of launching the alternate category in the ok, plant based beverage segment. Okay. And then the third one more pillar is the probiotics. So starting now, we have a converter and care buttermilk that we sell in pouches across India, which is almost 3 million litres a day into probiotics at the same price of say 30 rupees a litre. So no change in pace, but probiotic quality stuff available to customers around the country at the same price. So this is going to be a big revolution which will help strengthen the immunity of our country. But if you because if you have a strong gut, you will stay healthy and you will be more fit. So that is one part portion we have recently done. Similarly, methi is another category we are working on. People have moved out. I mean, people don't trust the loose koa available in the market, but there is a huge appetite for Indian sweets. And so we already have a portfolio of 50 sqs of the kajuka trees and the barfes and the pedas and the rasp malai and rasp boolas and shake hand and so on. So we are building on that portfolio also and making fresh methi available at a very affordable price with the best quality to the customers. All the available online sir or you will also be going retail and opening outlets for your methi and other. We have more than 10,000 amul outlets in the country. No methi will be sold through the amul parlours and we shall also be selling online. So if you are in Bombay today, if you order a pack of kajuka tree, it will be delivered on the same day to you. So that also experiment we have started and we are also starting. We have we have also launched a direct to consumer amul channel shop.amul.com in which a wide range of products, including camel milk, including honey, including the organic range, high protein products, the energy drink and all that stuff we are launching there on shop.amul.com. So that's another way of to reach out to consumers. Amul parlours are another way to reach out to consumers. We service more than a million outlets. So that is also another way to do it. We are presenting all amul from a source and e-commerce channel. So that's all the way to sell the range. So all said and done, we are looking at a turnover of 1 lakh crores by 2025. And then we have even in a big amount of plans for 2030. So anything else that you would like to talk about that I've not asked? No, I think you've been a very comprehensive questionnaire and we've been covered. We covered almost everything that we do. Thank you, sir. Thank you for talking to us. Thank you very much.