Danone has announced it will close its dairy business in India and expand its nutrition portfolio, which accounts for more than 90% of its business in the country.
The French company, which entered India in 2010, said it will discontinue SKU’s which have been making a minority contribution to its overall business.
Consequently, its manufacturing facility at Rai near Delhi will stop production. Danone’s factory at Lalru, which is involved in manufacturing infant nutrition products, will continue to function as usual.
Danone’s dairy unit in the country consists of milk, smoothies, buttermilk and yogurt. The Times of India reported that the company was incurring losses on the unit and that it was unable to compete with Indian dairy companies Mother Diary and Amul.
A spokesperson from Danone India said: “We have great ambitions for our business in India and remain committed to invest and grow in India through well-established brands such as Protinex, Aptamil, Farex, Dexolac and Neocate.
“In order to maximise growth opportunities, we are continuously analysing our portfolio and sharpening our focus to accelerate investments on the best performing categories and products. For this reason, we will discontinue some of the SKU’s sold in India.
“Our focus is to bring nutritionally superior and relevant products to India, and 2017 has been a testimony of that with ten new launches including some from our global portfolio.”
Under the leadership of managing director Rodrigo Lima, Danone India aims to boost its wide-ranging nutrition business which is bought from Wockhardt in 2012.
It hopes to double the size of the unit by 2020 in line with its global mission to “bring health through food to as many people as possible”.
Last year, the company introduced infant formula brand Neocate, which is intended for use in the dietary management of cow’s milk allergy.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024