MILKY WAY
THE JOURNEY SO FAR
One of the greatest success stories of economic empowerment of dairy farmers in independent India, Amul provides livelihood to 3.6 million women across 18,600 villages in Gujarat, notching an annual turnover of Rs 38,000 crore. The seeds of this powerful cooperative movement were sown in Anand where dairy farmers, guided by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Morarji Desai and Tribhuvandas Patel, ended the exploitation of the British government-supported local trade cartel. The Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Ltd they established in December 1946 later came to be known as Amul. Under the legendary Verghese Kurien, the brand diversified into dairy products to become a household name. The success of the Amul model was replicated across the country under the Operation Flood programme, making India the largest producer of milk in the world in 1998.
THE FUTURE
Based on the demand growth for its products, Amul expects at least 20 per cent compound annual growth rate in business in the next five years. It plans to increase milk processing capacity from 300 lakh litres a day to 400 lakh litres in the next three years and is targeting a Rs 50,000 crore turnover by 2020-21, against the current Rs 27,000 crore.
—Uday Mahurkar