Dairy firm Kwality Ltd has signed an agreement with Central Bank of India for extending financial assistance to dairy farmers.

City-based Kwality Ltd has six plants in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan with processing capacity of 30 lakh litres a day. Its consolidated net sales rose by 27 per cent at Rs 5,002 crore last fiscal, while profit was up 37 per cent at Rs 144.93 crore.

“Kwality has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Central Bank of India for financing of dairy animals to the Milk Producer Farmers (MPF) and to provide financial assistance for expansion/establishment of their dairy farms,” the company said in a statement today.

As per the MoU, Kwality will identify the farmers who supply milk to them and are in requirement of financial assistance. The company will then recommend their names to the bank, which would extend its credit facility to the Milk Producer Farmers (MPF) after checking the farmers credentials.

Kwality Dairy will help the farmers in the documentation process and also in remitting the sale proceeds of the milk from the farmers directly to the bank for appropriation towards the loan/credit of farmers account.

Commenting on the MoU, Kwality Director Sidhant Gupta said, “This MoU will help us to further procure good quality milk from farmers, which helps us to strengthen our supply side and hence improve our margins”.

“We feel that there is a great need of financial inclusion in the dairy sector. This MoU will encourage more people towards the dairy farming sector and this agreement is a first step towards the vision of establishing large-scale dairy farms in India,” said R B Gupta, General Manager-PS, Central Bank of India.