French multinational food products corporation Danone is exiting its dairy business in India and plans to rationalize its product portfolio in the country with a sharper focus on growing its nutrition portfolio.

A spokesperson has confirmed the move to FoodIngredientsFirst in a statement which says the company is sharpening its focus on investment on “best performing categories and products” and discontinuing UHT and fresh dairy products.

“Danone is to rationalize its product portfolio in India to allow for accelerated investments and a sharper focus on growing its nutrition portfolio which is more than 90 percent of the business, and wher the company already enjoys leadership position,” the statement says.

“In line with this, Danone will discontinue SKU’s (Stock Keeping Unit) which have been making a minor contribution to its overall business in India which include the UHT and fresh dairy products.”

Danone aims to double its nutrition business in India by 2020 in line with its global mission to “bring health through food to as many people as possible” and this renewed focus is key to achieving this goal.

“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,” says a Danone India spokesperson.

“In order to maximize growth opportunities, we are continuously analyzing 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 SKUs 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.” 

In line with this, a small factory at Rai near Delhi manufacturing discontinued products will stop production. Danone’s state-of-the-art factory at Lalru involved in manufacturing the infant nutrition products will continue to function as usual