With processing plant in Gurdaspur, Amul milks its way into Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna and PK Jaiswar

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh/Amritsar, Nov 24

Asia’s leading cooperative society Amul India today launched its operations in Punjab by processing milk at a leased plant in Batala of Gurdaspur district.

Amul’s entry will not only challenge Verka of Milkfed, Punjab’s state-owned dairy cooperative, but also promise better returns for state’s dairy farmers. “The move will reinvigorate dairy farming in Punjab as Amul plans to procure around 2 lakh litre milk daily from the state,” said RS Sodhi, Managing Director of Gujarat Cooperation Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which sells milk under the Amul brand.

Sources in the dairy sector say the daily milk available in Punjab is 2.65 crore litre, of which Milkfed procures 13 lakh litre. “Milkfed procures just 4.9 per cent of the total milk available. So, there is a big opportunity for us in Punjab. We are associated with 35 lakh dairy farmers and our aim is to strengthen dairy farmers. There are hardly any big players in Punjab and dairy farmers are exploited. With the entry of Amul, farmers will now get a much higher price,” Sodhi said.

He said farmers would be paid directly and the amount would be credited in their bank accounts. Amul will pay farmers Rs 540-550 per kg fat against Milkfed’s Rs 520, which was recently reduced to Rs 500, and Nestle’s Rs 500.

Amul has set up bulk milk coolers (BMCs) and would ensure good quality with Denmark-made Milkoscreen machines, which can detect any kind of adulteration. To begin with, it will procure 2 lakh litre from dairy farmers in Gurdaspur. Sodhi said raw milk would be chilled in BMCs to retain its quality and would later be transported to the processing plant at Batala. “We have tied up with another dairy plant owner and Amul milk will also be processed at another plant in Khamano, which has a capacity of processing 2 lakh litre milk a day.

In two years from now, we will be processing 10 lakh litre milk in Punjab and retailing it in the state. Besides milk, we will also be processing our entire range of dairy products: ghee, butter, buttermilk, lassi et al," he said. Sodhi hinted at Amul's plans to set up its own milk processing plant in the state.

Officials in the Punjab Cooperative department said Amul would pose no serious threat to Milkfed. SK Sandhu, principal secretary, Cooperatives department, said Verka already had its brand value and loyalty. "Milkfed is ready for all competition and all its plants are being technologically upgraded," he said.

GCMMF General Manger RM Chaudhry said: "We have already formed 10 societies across the country and wish to form at least 100 in a few years. The Punjab plant is operational and we have been procuring milk in the state for the past three days."

About quality, he said: "We are getting adulterated milk in which urea content is particularly high. We have asked farmers to provide us pure milk."

Senior Congress leader from Batala Ashwani Sekhri, whose son Abhinav Sekhri has set up the plant for Amul's operations, said Amul's arrival in Punjab would help revive dairy farming and provide employment to youth.

He said Amul was procuring milk from 25 villages at present, but intended to expand to 100 villages in the next two years. "This is the first major project in Majha region in the past 15 years," he added.