Danone looks at India expansion

BANGALORE, April 8 (Business Standard): French dairy firm Danone is chalking out a measured expansion plan in India. The corporation, which reported $20 billion in global revenues for 2010, has been in India for a little over a year and has introduced yogurt, dahi (curd) and smoothie product range in Pune and Mumbai. It is now focusing on Hyderabad. Danone Dairy India Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Sudip Dasgupta told the reporter that they were expanding in a measured way as they wanted to get the backend cold-chain distribution in shape, "which is the major element" in dairy business. According to the company, the pack rotation is much better when its products are stored in its own refrigerators rather than having them at third party coolers. "We are particular on delivering a good product and have been working on getting this supply chain in place. It is not easy to go pan-India unless we have this in place," he said.