A case study on the Andhra Pradesh foods investment


Andhra Pradesh Foods (AP Foods) is a unique government-owned organisation in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India with the mandate to manufacture and supply supplementary food under India’s Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme.

Dr. Rajan Sankar, Country Manager of the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) in India, first approached AP Foods in 2008 about working together to scale up and improve AP Food’s centralised approach to producing fortified supplementary foods. GAIN and AP Food’s collaboration has led to significant improvements in product quality and packaging. Additionally, GAIN’s investment and expertise acted as a catalyst for substantial financial commitment from the State government to build a world class centralised production facility.

AP Foods’ approach to supplementary food production is a strong example of how GAIN’s nutrition partners learn from and use business-centered practices to achieve improved quality and efficiency within public sector or non-profit organisational contexts.

This case study highlights the key takeaways, which include:

  • Prioritising product and operational quality is critical, but organisations must consider the financial implications of decisions, and operate within their established constraints, to achieve long-term sustainability;
  • Targeting investments that drive long-term value without neglecting short-term opportunities is key;
  • Integrating production with the demand end of the supply chain can enhance the impact and sustainability of a nutrition intervention; and
  • Measuring the nutritional impact enables a greater understanding of investment effectiveness and allows GAIN to more easily demonstrate success.