“We see our future growth coming from the convenience model and expanding portfolio of private labels,” said Prabhu Ramachandran, director, The Nilgiri Dairy Farm Pvt. Ltd.
According to Ramachandran, the plan for the next two years is to take the number of its convenience stores to 240 by March 2009 and to about 400 by March 2010. At present, Nilgiri’s offers about 1,200 private labels in bakery and dairy segments.
Besides, Nilgiri’s will also enter the Andhra Pradesh retail market by the next two months. According to Ramachandran, the company has identified properties and plans to open around 10 stores in a couple of months in Hyderabad.
Nilgiri’s currently operates around 100 outlets with a sizeable presence in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
Citing reasons for focussing on the South for expansions, Ramachandran said: “We want to be a sizeable player in a certain market rather than having thin presence across the country.”
The company is in the process of setting up two hi-tech distribution centres of around one lakh square feet each at Bengaluru and Chennai, which will be functional in October.
