Dairy cooperative AMUL stood tall as the coronavirus crisis hit the country and against all odds managed to ensure that milk distribution is not impaired and supply chain management is seamless. In a recent interview with the New Indian Express, Amul MD RS Sodhi explained how diary cooperative managed to keep the supply chain up and running during the lockdown.
Sodhi said that milk is the primary source of income for 100 million families in India. It is next to impossible to stop the milk supply chain. While the restaurants and eateries were closed during the lockdown, the household consumption increased by several folds and so, whatever business Amul lost from restaurants was covered by households.
Amul’s supply chain ran smoothly, thanks to Ministry of Home Affairs and local administrations
When the government announced lockdown, Amul communicated with all the stakeholders. They managed to keep the supply chain up and running as the Ministry of Home Affairs and local administrations helped them in every possible way. There were some hiccups in the process that were dealt with by Amul and administration.
Sodhi says that one of the major issues was with the supply chain partners. While returning home, villagers stopped them stating possible coronavirus spread. Amul helped in sorting out such problems. In some villages, there were Chinese coronavirus positive cases and Amul had to stop procurement from those places. Once they received a green signal from the administration, they restarted procurement from those villages as well.
Amul is ready to lead in White Revolution 2.0
In India, animal husbandry growth per annum is 14 percent as compared to agricultural growth of around 3 percent. However, animal husbandry contributed only 4.5 percent of GDP. In the last ten years, Amul has increased its procurement by 9% CAGR compared to India’s procurement rate that is growing at 4.5 to 5 percent. The company is growing much faster in comparison to its competitors. Sodhi mentioned that Amul collects around 26 million litres of milk every day and this grew by 15% during the lockdown. In last 60 days, Rs 8,000 crore were pumped back by AMUL into the rural economy especially in Gujarat.
“Amul is ready… The farmers are ready to lead, and Amul is owned by the farmers. So, yes. Amul is ready to lead,” he said. Speaking on becoming global market leader, Sodhi said, “India is the world’s largest and fastest growing dairy market. The whole world wants to come to India, and only one-third is organised. If I go to Europe or America, these are saturated markets. So you have to snatch market share from other established players. For the same investment, the Indian market will yield more results.”
Gujarat provides 60 percent of the milk to Amul and the rest of the states provide the remaining 40 percent. Amul is expanding its reach to other states and every year they are investing Rs 800-900 crores in new dairy plants across the country.
