48th Annual General Body Meeting

CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH

Gentlemen,

As retail inflation in India soared to nearly 7.8% in April 2022, largely on the back of the global surge in prices of fuel as well as edible oil, two major commodity groups in which India is, to a large extent, import dependent, citizens of our country had yet another reason to thank the dairy farmers of India. Today, if our country is completely self-sufficient in milk and milk products, it is because of the hard work, toil and sacrifice of 10 crore dairy farmers of India. They have safeguarded the food security of the nation in one of its most critical dimensions – milk and dairy products. Just one glance at our neighbouring countries in South Asia, whose economies have either already collapsed or are on the brink of disintegration, will reinforce the immense significance of self-sufficiency and of protecting our food security.

Milk Self Sufficiency=Food Security

In fact, milk and milk products have had a moderating influence over consumer food inflation in recent times, thanks largely to the fact that India is ‘Aatmanirbhar’ (self-sufficient) in the dairy sector. While overall food inflation touched 8.38% in April 2022, riding on 17.3% inflation in edible oils, 15.4% in vegetables and 10.6% in spices; milk and dairy, with only a 5.47% price increase, helped to reduce overall food inflation and keep it under control. The sharp contrast between edible oils and milk is quite striking. India imports 63% of its requirement of edible oils and the surge in global prices due to supply constraints in palm oil from Indonesia and Malaysia, and disruption in supply of sunflower oil from Ukraine, had led to a sharp spike in overall food inflation.

On the other hand, the dairy cooperative movement in India has ensured that our nation is completely self-sufficient in milk and milk products, generating ample supply. Per capita availability of milk in India at 427 gms/day is much higher than the global per capita average of 321 gms/day. This has kept the increase of milk and dairy prices at a reasonably low level i.e. 5.47% in April 2022, while FAO’s dairy price index rose by 23.5% in the same month. Clearly, India has been insulated from the global surge in dairy prices. If India had not been self-sufficient in milk, then the import bill for dairy products would have been quite huge at around Rs. 5-6 lakh crores, much higher than that of edible oils.

Dairy Farmers’ Incomes Rise

We need to keep in mind that even the moderate increase in prices of milk that we have witnessed in recent times is actually an increase in income of dairy farmers. This is especially so in the case of those who are part of the dairy cooperative movement, as here, more than 80% of the consumers’ rupee flows back to the farmers. When citizens of urban India pay slightly more for milk, money flowing back into rural India rises, thereby reducing income disparity across the urban-rural divide. While 70% of our population still resides in rural areas, their average per capita income is less than half that of people in urban areas.

During the last two years, while the price of milk increased by approximately 9%, the income of dairy farmers also increased by 9% in the same period. Therefore, inflation in the dairy industry should not be a cause for worry, as dairy farmers benefit through higher prices for their produce. In reality, price increases in the dairy sector are very moderate as compared to the actual steep rise in input costs within the dairy industry. Energy prices, which impact cold storage expenses, have gone up by over a third, logistics costs are also up by a similar measure and the same is the case with packaging costs.

With the aim of enhancing ease of payment for milk producer members, we have developed the GCMMF Amul Micro ATM Project, in partnership with DGV, India’s first Dairy Neo-Banking startup. This project will help milk societies save the 2-5% TDS, and allow dairy farmers to access milk payments at the society itself, thereby saving them the time and cost involved in accessing bank branches/ATMs. The project is now live for the first 500 milk societies across 10 member dairy unions.

Dairy Co-ops: Key to Nation Building

In the Indian dairy sector, the importance of dairy cooperatives increases multifold in the case of rural landless, marginal and small farmers. Cooperatives have enabled them to leverage their collective strength and gain market access to get fair value for their produce.

The dairy cooperative movement transformed India from a milk deficit country to the world’s largest milk producing nation in just a short span of a few decades. It contributed immensely towards nation-building by enabling our country to gain self-sufficiency. Overall, India has almost 1,96,000 primary village-level dairy cooperative societies. These procure 50 million litres of milk from 17.3 million farmers and sell 36 million litres of milk per day. There exist 228 district level cooperative unions in the country, which take care of processing and manufacturing of value-added products. Further, 28 state-level cooperative federations take care of marketing, sales and distribution under their own brands.

Dairy cooperatives have had a huge positive transformational impact on rural India by playing a key role in poverty reduction, while providing remunerative employment opportunities. They also guarantee market access through elimination of all concerns regarding sale of a perishable commodity. Dairy cooperatives also ensure regular cash flow to meet recurring living expenses; transparency, trust and faith in transactions; empowerment of women to achieve gender equality; democratic governance, as well as a sense of ownership and participation; creating jobs, sustainable livelihoods, ensuring equitable growth for its members and enabling the socio-economic transformation of rural India, as well as contributing to social harmony.

Bridging the Rural-Urban Divide

Cooperatives are an instrument for the economic development of both India and Bharat and will also serve to enhance people’s faith in Indian democracy. The cooperative structure works best in any situation where the individual entrepreneur is weak. Aggregation, with use of technology, enables a large number of members to benefit from the collective strength of the alliance. Cooperatives have a massive potential for unleashing an entrepreneurship revolution covering all economic classes by aggregating their strengths. Every small producer or small entrepreneur can overcome the handicaps of individual entrepreneurship through membership of a relevant cooperative, which will help in gaining market access, giving a technological edge and easing financial challenges.

If India has to grow rapidly and develop equitably, we need to ensure that Bharat also develops in step with India. Bharat can only develop through a cooperative way of doing business, because this is the only model that takes care of small people. Our Indian economy is largely based on three ‘S’ – which are (a) small farmers, small traders and small workers; (b) small retailers and small middlemen; and (c) small consumers.

For Bharat to share the growing wealth and prosperity of India, we have to ensure that all these three ‘S’ are involved in the development process. Our policy-makers understand that the only business model which can successfully take care of all these three ‘S’, is the cooperative way of doing business. Cooperatives can help to reduce the widening income disparity between urban and rural India, or between India and Bharat. The cooperative model has time and again proven its importance in bringing together the marginalised sections of Indian society and aiding their upliftment. The cooperatives, which are owned by the masses and democratically run, ensure that economic growth is equitably shared by all sections of society.

‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’

In order to achieve this national objective, our Hon. Prime Minister has given a slogan of ‘Sahakar se Samriddhi’, which means prosperity through co-operation. His government has also created a separate Cooperation Ministry under the helm of Hon. Union Home Minister, Shri Amit Shah. The government understands that if Bharat has to develop, we need more cooperatives in all fields, since the cooperative business model can be replicated anywhere and not just in the farm sector.

Lakhs of traders and farmers will benefit from the Ministry of Cooperation as it will help in easing income inequality and disparities by putting in capital for cooperative businesses. It will also help deepen cooperatives as true people-based movements reaching up to the grassroots. Cooperatives are the only way to distribute wealth and remove income disparity. Our government understands this, and Amul is the time-tested, profitable, well-recognised model that the government would like to replicate. On behalf of 3.6 million farmer-members of the Amul Cooperative family, I profusely thank the Government of India for the high priority assigned to cooperatives and the creation of this new ministry.

No Shut Down During Lockdown

The stellar work done by the entire Amul team across India during the Covid pandemic and the initial lockdown period, in terms of ensuring that the supply chain for milk and dairy products continued to function without any interruption even in the most challenging of times, received widespread appreciation from all sections of society. Our team of Covid warriors worked selflessly to ensure that every last drop of milk that farmers wanted to pour into their cooperative, even during the pandemic and lockdown period, was collected, at the most remunerative price. This was even more important since during the pandemic, the private sector had sharply reduced milk procurement and cooperatives were the last resort available to dairy farmers in the then prevailing trying circumstances.

On the other hand, when consumers were unable to leave their homes during the initial lockdown period, the Amul team took all possible steps to ensure that our products were available either at the consumers’ doorsteps or at shops closest to consumers’ homes. Our dedicated team overcame all challenges to ensure that our supply chain remained intact and our products were continuously available in retail stores and home delivery platforms across the entire country. All these efforts were acknowledged and appreciated by our farmer-members on the one hand and our consumers and trade-partners on the other. Today, when the Covid pandemic has largely receded and we are operating in an environment that has moved rapidly towards normalcy, our customers are rewarding us in terms of even greater love, appreciation, and enhanced preference for our brand.

Reaping the Benefits Post-Pandemic

As out of home consumption has now resumed, restaurants and hotels have started operating at almost full capacity, catering business at weddings and other gatherings has also resumed and so has travel and tourism. Consumer preference, which has always been in our favour due to the love and trust in brand Amul, has been further enhanced due to our efforts and the dedication of our team during the Covid period. This combination of factors is helping us to generate high volume growth across almost all major product categories. As demand is growing across customer segments, trusted and reputed brands such as Amul are reaping the benefits of this enhanced consumer preference. At the same time, due to the fact that team Amul unflinchingly continued milk procurement operations even during the Covid pandemic, we have enhanced trust levels among farmer-members. Our milk procurement also grew by 23.6% during the two-year Covid period. This has enabled us to service the growing demand for high quality milk and milk products under brand Amul.

A Year of Twin Milestones

The year 2021-22 was very special for us as we celebrated the twin milestones of the 75th anniversary of brand Amul along with the birth centenary of the legendary Dr. Verghese Kurien, the milkman of India. The celebrations were marked by several events organised across India, such as blood donation camps, Covid vaccination camps, bicycle rallies, mini-marathons and sports tournaments.

Presiding over the grand celebration to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Amul cooperative movement on 31st October 2021 at Amul Dairy, Anand, our Hon. Union Minister of Home and Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah had lauded Amul for carving out a name for itself in the global dairy industry. In his eloquent speech on the occasion, he had called Amul a fine example of a miracle that takes place when ‘small people in large numbers decide to walk on the same path’.

The grand event marking the birth centenary of Dr. Kurien, organised at Anand on 26th November 2021, was presided over by Hon. Union Minister of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Parshottam Rupala, who mentioned in his address on the occasion, that the cooperative model of Amul has instilled a sense of confidence and self-belief among the farmers. Such wonderful words of encouragement and appreciation certainly motivate us to strive even harder to live up to the expectations of millions of our fellow-citizens.

I now present to you our Federation’s Annual Report and the Audited Accounts for the year 2021-2022.

REVIEW OF OPERATIONS

Milk Procurement

During FY 2021-22 milk procurement by member unions of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (Amul Federation) averaged 263.66 lakh kilograms (26.3 million kg) per day, representing a growth of 7.14% over an average of 246.09 lakh kilograms (24.60 million kg) per day achieved during 2020-21. The highest procurement was recorded during February 2022 at 310 lakh kilograms (31.0 million kg) per day. Over the last 12 years our milk procurement has increased by a phenomenal 190%.

This creditable growth was a result of the high milk procurement price – which has increased by 143% during this period – paid to our farmer-members. The highly remunerative price helped us retain farmers’ interest in milk production; and better returns from dairying have motivated them to enhance their investments in this sector. Our initiative in promoting the concept of commercial, scientific, cooperative dairy farming also helps retain the next generation of dairy farmers in the business.

Sales

We achieved a turnover of Rs. 46,481 crore (Rs. 464.81 billion) during the year 2021-22, implying growth of 18.4%. In fact, our group turnover, which is the unduplicated sales of all products under brand Amul reached Rs. 61,000 crore (Rs. 610 billion) in 2021-22. We are extremely grateful to our customers for the love showered on brand Amul, especially the appreciation of our efforts to ensure that even during the pandemic and lockdown, our Amul products were available either at the doorsteps of consumers or at shops very near to them. Our dedicated team functioned as Covid warriors and kept the supply chain intact even in the most challenging of times. As we move beyond the pandemic, consumers are rewarding us by displaying higher preference for brand Amul. As out-of-home consumption returns to normalcy, restaurants are witnessing higher footfalls, travel and tourism has resumed and so have functions and gatherings. The combined impact of all these factors is resulting in high growth across most product categories.

Our milk-based beverages business grew by 36% in value terms, despite the peak summer season of 2021 being impacted by the second wave of Covid. Our ice-cream business also saw a sharp revival with a more than 50% value growth in 2022. Our flagship brand Amul Butter grew by 17%, while our Ghee business grew by more than 24%, both in value terms. We achieved 17% value growth in Amul Long Life Milk, 44% value growth in Amul Cream, 24% value growth in Amul Dahi, 18% value growth in fresh Buttermilk and impressive 12% value growth in our largest product category, Amul fresh milk.We also achieved high volume growth in most of our consumer product categories.

New product innovation is deeply ingrained within our DNA. We launched several new and exciting products such as Amul Peanut Spread, a wide range of fresh ethnic Indian mithai and Amul Butter-based bread, cookies and bakery products in multiple markets. Our latest initiative is our effort to promote adoption of organic farming and natural farming amongst our farmers by providing them market linkage and technical support and exploring the launch of our organic range of food products, under brand Amul.

Distribution Network

Over the last decade, we have been rigorously working on enhancing our footprint across geographical areas, consumer segments and age groups with better product availability for consumers. In the process, we have further strengthened our existing, very unique and robust distribution model of servicing consumers through four distribution highways – fresh, ambient, refrigerated and frozen.

During the last year, we opened six sales branches viz. Madurai, Rohtak, Prayagraj, Bhavnagar, Vijayawada and Virar, taking our total branch count to 76. Going forward, we are targeting opening of 14 branches in the coming year. In all GCMMF has started operations at 27 new branches over the last eight years and has simultaneously created and developed branch infrastructure commensurate with ever increasing sales volumes. In order to ensure efficiency in operations as well as better monitoring, GCMMF realigned branches across 11 sales zones by adding new zones at Chandigarh, Bhopal and Pune. Further in the coming year, we plan to start two new sales zones as well.

Our expansion drive of appointing direct distributors in towns with a 10,000-plus population has significantly helped us increase our direct reach. We now cover 4,900 towns, of which 3,600 fall in the under 10,000-plus population category. This is the real Bharat. Our efforts through this drive have led to an almost two-fold increase in directly-covered towns. In total, the appointment of 2,600 wholesale distributors (WDs) in the last three years and 1,100 WDs last year has made it possible to service these smaller markets in an efficient manner. Taking cues from this success, we are targeting appointment of direct WDs in 5,000-plus population towns in the coming years. We have also been enhancing our infrastructure at branches to accommodate the increase in volumes being handled.

Apart from their direct reach in smaller markets, our approximately 153-strong Super WD network also covers about 3,400 smaller markets through their Sub WD network. In an ongoing manner, our branches have been converting the grown up and developed Sub WD markets by appointing direct WDs and simultaneously ensuring that these Super WDs appoint more Sub WDs in even smaller population markets.

One of the major business tools to enhance our reach in the market is the DMS (Distributor Management Software), which is now in use at 3,301 WD points. This system facilitates monitoring of critical process parameters and helps our on-ground sales staff in identifying gaps as well as ensuring efficient utilisation of available resources. To bring the small-location WDs into this fold, we have also provided a Mobile DMS option which is currently being used by 671 WDs for their operations. In all, approximately 90% of our business now takes place through this system.

To further enhance our market efficiency, our entire sales force regularly uses our internally-developed, technology-supported tools viz. Amul Dashboard, Amul Track, Amul Store Locator, Amul Cart, etc. These add on to the information available from DMS and facilitate precise action plans leading to better and faster results with limited resources.

Our internally designed WDSM efficiency enhancement intervention programme “POSITIVE”, has started yielding results in the form of higher productivity for the persons on the ground. We will continue this programme over the coming years as well.

Exports

With great pleasure, I would like to inform you that in spite of the global pandemic persisting during the early part of the financial year, our exports have shattered all previous records and registered growth of over 145%. Our consumer products have reached many new countries and we have been able to strengthen our distribution in existing foreign markets, too. We also exported a large quantity of Skim Milk Powder (SMP), White Butter and Anhydrous Milk Fat (AMF) during the year which helped in boosting domestic market prices. This not only cleared our inventory but also resulted in much better price realisation for our farmers.

Integration of Information Technology Operations

We are happy to inform you that your Federation has successfully completed 11 years of operations on SAP ERP. All 18 member unions, in addition to AmulFed Dairy, Vidya Dairy and your Federation, are reaping the benefits of using SAP while scaling up business operations.

We wish to inform you that Amul DMS has been implemented at 4,000 distributor points. More than 4,200 salesmen of these distributors book orders on mobiles through Sales Force Automation (SFA). The Federation has also implemented mobile-based DMS solution for 700 WDs for capturing secondary sales data of the rural areas and small WDs. Commendable progress has been made by the Federation on the implementation of the Amul Automatic Milk Collection System (AMCS) application at Village Dairy Cooperative Societies (VDCS). A total of 17,200 village societies have been covered in the project thus far. The application has helped integrate the Cow-to-Consumer (C2C) IT Value Chain. On a daily basis, more than 20 lakh (2.0 million) messages (SMS) are being sent to milk producers sharing information on the quality and quantity of milk poured.

The Federation has adopted mobile technology in various areas such as WD/Area Milk Distribution (AMD) and APO Proposals, Consumer Channel for Distributors, Digital Catalogue, Milk DMS for order booking of fresh products and daily reporting from Sales teams (DSR) as part of the digital initiatives. The Milk DMS is being used by more than 7,500 AMDs including Member Unions and collecting orders from up to 1.5 lakh (0.15 million) retailers on a daily basis.

The Amul Dairy Trade (ADT) platform has been implemented to conduct auctions and for price-discovery based on market demand. This has resulted in better realisation for our produce. The Reverse auction and e-Procurement portals are being used for cost-effective procurement of goods and services. The Federation has also developed various dashboards for the Sales team which are being used effectively for their day-to-day analysis requirements.

The robust IT infrastructure set up by Amul Federation has ensured business continuity during the pandemic. The Federation has implemented the SIEM (Security Incident and Event Management) solution in addition to the Anti-APT (Advanced Persistent Threats) solution thus strengthening network security against any imminent cyber threats.

Cooperative Development Programmes

During the year, we have continued to provide technical, managerial and marketing support to the Jamnagar and Morbi Milk Unions for the establishment and strengthening of the dairy cooperative structure in their districts. We have continued to provide support to milk unions of Saurashtra and Kutch regions to organise farmers to build and develop cooperatives and increase milk production and procurement. In the last 20 years, our member unions have been implementing the Internal Consultant Development (ICD) programme for promoting leadership among member producers. Till date, 12,227 VDCS have prepared their Mission Statement and Business Plan under the Vision Mission Strategy (VMS). During the year, 91 Dudh Utpadak Mandali Sanklit Vikas Ayojan Karyakram (DIVA) programmes have been conducted and 6,332 milk producers have drawn up their action plan. Every year, on Independence Day, the milk producers of Gujarat Dairy Co-operatives conduct a mass tree plantation drive and in the last 14 years they have planted more than 817.6 lakh (81.7 million) trees.

Animal Enumeration:

Member unions of GCMMF have continued to conduct animal enumeration at regular intervals. During the year, our member unions conducted an animal census in 14,253 villages and covered around 22.4 lakhs (2.24 million) households in Gujarat.

Genomic Selection:

Genomic Selection is the methodology used for selecting an individual animal for breeding to produce the next generation. It uses the combined information of performance and DNA from an established reference population. Genomic Selection allows us to select bulls at an earlier age as compared to other conventional methods. Considering its advantages, our member unions have implemented the Genomic Selection programme. We have also signed MoUs (Memorandum of Understanding) with other agencies such as National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), Kamdhenu University, and Department of Animal Husbandry, Government of Gujarat, for utilisation of the knowledge, skills and resources available with each of them for smooth implementation of the programme.

Sex-Sorted Semen Technology :

With the aim of increasing the number of female calves through Artificial Insemination and creating awareness among milk producers for greater adaptability, our member unions have started use of Sex-Sorted Semen Doses (SSD). During the year, more than 2.5 lakh (0.25 million) SSD have been utilised.

Embryo Transfer Technology :

Embryo Transfer Technology (ETT) is a tool for rapid genetic improvement in dairy animals through implanting embryos (surrogacy) produced from a genetically superior bull and donor cow. The aim is to increase milk productivity. ETT allows use of cyclic, unproductive or low productive recipient females. It is an advantageous technique in terms of producing more calves from a genetically superior donor female than is possible through the conventional reproduction cycle. During the year, our member unions have transferred around 1,085 embryos of different breeds.

Strategic Calf Rearing Programme:

To create awareness among Milk Producer Members to adopt scientific calf rearing practices and also to create good replacement stock and high productivity animals, our member unions have implemented the Strategic Calf Rearing Programme.

Strategic Productivity Enhancement:

To improve the progeny of the upcoming generation of dairy cattle, the Strategic Productivity Enhancement Programme (PEP) has been initiated in 4,635 villages, covering 36.3 lakh (3.6 million) animals. FIP-XIV, the Fertility Improvement Programme (FIP), is being successfully implemented in 4,202 selected villages covering 3.45 lakh (0.34 million) animals.

Entrepreneurship Development Programme:

Young and educated milk producers are trained in commercial dairy farming and management under the Entrepreneurship Development Programme (EDP). Till date, we have conducted 268 programmes and trained 17,499 milk producers.

Ethnoveterinary Preparations Programme:

Our member unions have implemented the Ethnoveterinary Preparations (EVP) programme as an alternative medical stream, taking into consideration its cost, availability of ingredients at farm level and effectiveness in treatment of various diseases/conditions at the field.

Skill Enhancement Programme for Dairy Cooperative Services Consultants :

Consultant staff of member unions acts as a vital link between Milk Unions and VDCS to ensure Standard Operating Procedure for milk procurement. Hence, we have initiated the Skill Enhancement Programme for Dairy Cooperative Services Consultants (SEPDCSC) programme with the focused objective of strengthening and upgradation of knowledge and skill of the consultant staff of our milk unions. We have conducted 17 programmes and trained 404 consultant staff members of milk unions.

Take Home Ration:

The Government of India provides ‘ready to cook’ Take Home Ration (THR) to young children, adolescent girls, and pregnant and lactating mothers, through its Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). We are currently supplying approximately 14,000 MT/month of THR products (‘Balshakti’ for children, ‘Matrushakti’ for pregnant women and ‘Purnashakti’ for adolescent girls) from three plants (each at Kaira, Banaskantha and Surat MU) to around 53,000 anganwadis of Gujarat. We have also initiated the supply of AYUSH THR (THR with added ayurvedic ingredients) to a few selected districts of Gujarat on a pilot basis.

Fortified Wheat Flour:

The Government of Gujarat, through its Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), provides Fortified Wheat Flour (FWF) in anganwadis of the state. Amul Federation and three member unions (Kaira, Banaskantha and Surat MU) have entered into a tripartite agreement with the state government to establish 20 MT/day capacity plants for production and supply of FWF. We have initiated this supply to anganwadis in the state.

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana :

Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana (DSY) is an initiative of Government of Gujarat (GoG) to tackle malnourishment prevailing in children, and pregnant and lactating mothers of the state. In 2016-17, the state government entrusted GCMMF and its member unions with coordinating and facilitating the distribution of Double Toned Pasteurised Homogenised Fortified Flavoured Milk. The flavoured milk is provided to children in anganwadis and schools, and to pregnant and lactating women in the state. Under the Doodh Sanjeevani Yojana, GCMMF and member unions have implemented distribution of milk in 83 talukas of 21 districts in Gujarat and have covered around 24.50 lakh (2.45 million) beneficiaries.

The Road Ahead…

On the demand side, the total size of the Indian dairy market is currently about Rs. 11.35 lakh crore. Milk production in the country is estimated to reach about 300 million tonnes (MTs) by 2030 as per a report by NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog. Thus, the Indian dairy sector is poised to create 1.2 crore new jobs over the next 10 years, which would provide livelihood and food security to a large section of the population.

It is also projected that in the next 25 years, India will account for 48 per cent of the world’s milk production. Clearly, the dairy sector of India has the potential to generate a large number of new jobs, create entrepreneurial opportunities, and offer sustainable incomes to families in the coming decades, thus ensuring food security.

The Next 25 Years

By 2047, our centenary year, we estimate that Amul group should be able to achieve a turnover of Rs. 18 lakh crore, from Rs. 61,000 crore, recorded in the previous financial year. We are already ranked as the eighth largest dairy organisation in the world, in terms of milk handled. Even by conservative estimates, in the next 25 years, the farmers of Gujarat (members of the Amul cooperative family), who are already number one in India, will own the biggest food company in the world.

Our expansion plans are based on our milk procurement projections. Generally, every year there is capacity expansion through an investment of approximately Rs. 800 crore to Rs. 1,000 crore. We are also expanding in fresh products (milk, curd and buttermilk). A new dairy plant, with an investment of Rs. 500 crore, will come up in Rajkot. Within two years, large dairy plants will also come up in Baghpat, near Delhi, Varanasi, Rohtak and Kolkata.

Critical Challenges

Both Amul and the Indian dairy industry face a common key challenge: how to increase productivity of our milk animals.

Another challenge is ensuring that our nation continues to support our dairy farmers and not enter into free trade agreements (FTA) for the import of dairy products, as this will adversely impact the interest of dairy farmers and the self-sufficiency we as a country have achieved. Till now, we have received full support from our Government and policymakers in this regard.

Yet another challenge is the propaganda by vested interests against milk and dairy products. We need to understand that humans, plants and animals are interdependent on each other. This interdependence creates a balance and harmony in nature. Some groups with vested interests are unleashing false propaganda against milk consumption and the dairy industry in order to promote consumption of plant-based products. We are taking all possible steps to counter such false propaganda.

One significant challenge is maintaining, and further enhancing, the image of Amul as a contemporary, modern food brand, especially among youngsters and children. Amul is the only food brand that is accepted by all age groups, income brackets, geographies, social classes and religions. We will need to keep the image of the brand intact, and ensure that it continues to be seen as modern, contemporary and innovative. Through our novel marketing campaigns, we are trying to ensure that each new generation of consumers continues to love brand Amul as much their parents and grandparents do, or did.

Technology Holds the Key

Deployment and application of cutting-edge technology is the answer to some of the challenges outlined above. Amul has been leveraging new-age technology to scale the supply chain across its key business verticals and replace manual interventions with digital apps. Undoubtedly, we have been at the forefront of the digitisation of milk plants and processes. Rural India has a lot of potential for use of emerging technologies compared to urban India. In our opinion, empowering the rural workforce can remove the digital divide. Technology can act as a catalyst in shaping India’s journey towards an inclusive and sustainable economy.

In the milk value chain, we have recently introduced several new technologies, which are giving good results. One example is sorted sex semen, which results in 95 per cent of calves born being female. Another is embryo transplant, which helps to multiply the numbers of high-yielding cows. More milking machines are also being used now, while for milk collection, we are working on solar-powered bulk milk coolers. Also, our tankers are now able to measure fat and other parameters and feed them into the system even as milk is being pumped in. This ensures that nobody tampers with the quantity and quality of milk.

We recently built Asia’s biggest milk powder plant. We are also working on a technology which can store perishable Indian milk-based sweets and desserts like barfi and kalakand for up to 45 days. We have recently started a limited initiative of putting health sensors on cows, just like health sensor wearables used by humans. The aim is to monitor the health and other parameters of the cows and buffaloes on a real-time basis. We are looking at the results carefully and planning how to scale up such initiatives.

In conclusion, I would like to reiterate the immortal quote by Dr. Verghese Kurien that has inspired generations of leaders and professionals, associated with the Amul cooperative movement. “We have traversed a path that few have dared to. We are continuing on a path that still fewer have the courage to follow. We must pursue a path that even fewer can dream to pursue. Yet, we must, because we hold in trust the aims and aspirations of our countrymen.”

Acknowledgements

Before closing, I would like to thank all those who have helped to make our Federation’s operations successful.

We are extremely grateful to the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Gujarat for their constant support and guidance. We express our appreciation of the Government of India for the immense support received from various departments, particularly the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development. We also convey special thanks to NCDC (National Cooperative Dairy Corporation) for providing valuable support to our village cooperative dairy societies. We are also thankful to the Government of Gujarat, especially the Department of Animal Husbandry and Cooperation, for their very supportive and facilitating role.

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has contributed to our growth and development and the National Cooperative Dairy Federation of India has been providing us with invaluable support in coordination with other agencies and organisations. We are very grateful to both of them.

The Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA), as always, has contributed to the perspective building and professionalisation of the management of the cooperative sector. We express deep gratitude for this contribution they have made.

We are indebted to Vidya Dairy for having organised training programmes on dairy technology for our employees. We are also grateful to Anand Agriculture University and SMC College of Dairy Science, Anand, for strengthening the dairy cooperative sector by providing technically-skilled manpower. We also express our sincere thanks to the College of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry, Anand. Our advertising agencies, bankers, insurers, management consultants, suppliers, and transport contractors have been of great help to us in managing our growth and are our partners in success. We acknowledge their contributions and commit ourselves to continue and strengthen this fruitful alliance for all time to come.

The Indian Railways has played a crucial role in the growth of our dairy cooperatives since inception. We thank them for their continuous support. We depend on the efficiency of our WC&F agents, distributors, retailers, and most important of all, the patronage of our consumers, who have come to regard our brands as synonymous with quality and value. While thanking them for their support, we assure them that we shall strive endlessly to delight them.

Our Member Unions are our strength. We thank them for their guidance, support and cooperation without which we would not exist. Lastly, we thank the officers and staff of our Federation for their continued perseverance, loyalty and unflinching efforts devoted to our cause.

Thank you.

For and on behalf of the Board of Directors,

Shamalbhai B. Patel

Chairman

Click below for the other speeches:

• 47th Annual General Body Meeting on 20th July, 2021
• 46th Annual General Body Meeting on 18th July, 2020
• 45th Annual General Body Meeting on 28th May, 2019
• 44th Annual General Body Meeting held on 23rd June 2018
• 43rd Annual General Body Meeting held on 15th June, 2017
• 42nd Annual General Body Meeting held on 17th June, 2016
• 41st Annual General Body Meeting held on 14th May, 2015
• 40th Annual General Body Meeting held on 15th May, 2014
• Speech of Chairman, Vipulbhai M. Chaudhary: 39th Annual Report 2012-2013
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 38th Annual Report 2011-2012
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 37th Annual Report 2010-2011
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 36th Annual Report 2009-2010
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 35th Annual Report 2008-2009
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 34th Annual Report 2007-2008
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 33rd Annual Report 2006-2007
• Speech of Chairman, P. G. Bhatol: 32nd Annual Report 2005-2006
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 31st Annual Report 2004-2005
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 30th Annual Report 2003-2004
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 29th Annual Report 2002-2003
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 28th Annual Report 2001-2002
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 27th Annual Report 2000-2001
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 26th Annual Report 1999-2000
• Speech of Chairman, Dr V Kurien: 25th Annual Report 1998-1999