Paras Dairy to enter western, southern markets with Galacia Cheese portfolio

Mumbai, Aug 20 (PTI) VRS Foods Ltd (Paras Dairy) on Wednesday said it will enter western and southern markets with its Galacia Cheese portfolio aimed at quick service restaurants, institutional kitchens and hotel and restaurant partners.

"We recently launched our Galacia Cheese portfolio in March, designed specifically for our HORECA ((hotel, restaurant, catering) partners, QSR and institutional kitchens. While we began with a focused presence in North India, as part of our expansion strategy. We are now entering the western and southern markets," VRS Foods Joint Managing Director Gajendra Nagar said.

To support this growth, the company has invested over Rs 100 crore in setting up a cheese plant in Maharashtra, he said.

"Looking ahead, we also plan to bring Galacia Cheese to retail outlets within the next 6-8 months, with the vision of becoming one of the top five cheese players in India," Nagar said.

"In terms of retail presence, we are already among the leading brands in the fresh dairy category, which includes milk, buttermilk, paneer, and ghee. With the addition of cheese in retail, we aim to increase the retail segment's contribution to 40 per cent of our overall revenue," he added.

Speaking at the event, National Dairy Development Board Executive Director Seetharaman Raghupathi said, "India's food and beverage sector is growing rapidly, backed by 180 million hectares of arable land, food processing valued at Rs 75 trillion, and food expenditure making up over 40 per cent of consumer spend." Dairy contributes 25 per cent of this sector, with India producing one-fourth of the world's milk, worth Rs 12 trillion.

"With 17 million farmers across 2,35,000 villages, 35 per cent of whom are women, dairy cooperatives return 75 per cent of the consumer rupee, channeling Rs 2.1 billion daily into the rural economy. Initiatives like White Revolution 2.0, which aims to establish 75,000 new cooperatives by 2028-29, will further boost this growth," Raghupathi added.

The three-day Anuga FoodTec India and Anuga Select India 2025 is expecting 60,000 visitors and has 1,100 exhibitors from 65 countries. PTI SM MR