“The Taste of India. Now in USA,” India’s largest dairy co-operative Amul, i.e. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), declared in a newspaper advertisement on Sunday, May 19. Partnering with the 108-year-old American co-operative organisation Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA), Amul is launching four variants of fresh milk in the U.S. market. “Amul Doodh ab piyega America,” touts the dairy giant in its advertisement.
Announcing its plans to go global on March 25, GCMMF MD Jayen Mehta told PTI, “We have been exporting dairy products for many decades. This is the first time we are launching fresh milk outside India.” While the milk collection and processing will be done by MMPA, Amul will take care of branding and marketing its fresh milk products. The initial launch will cover New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Washington, Dallas and Texas, targetting non-resident Indians (NRIs) and the large Asian population in the U.S.
Currently, Amul exports dairy products to 50 nations and has 36 lakh dairy farmers as members of its dairy co-operative in India.
As it goes global, here’s a look at Amul’s growth story.
Amul’s birth: Freedom from the milk cartels
The milk trade in Anand’s Kaira district was blooming in 1945 with the implementation of the Bombay Milk Scheme, with the Bombay government tying up with Polson Limited to supply milk to Bombay from Anand. After the milk was pasteurized in Anand, it had to travel 427 kilometers, via many contractors, suppliers and distributors, before it reached consumers in Mumbai. The tie-up was successful for Polson, the government and the middlemen who kept a major chunk of the profits earned.
However, milk prices were not regulated to assure minimum compensation to the dairy farmers, who were forced to sell milk, curd, paneer and ghee at any price demanded by the contractors. After consulting Congress veteran Sardar Vallabhai Patel, the farmers formed a dairy co-operative named ‘Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union’ in 1946, under the guidance of Mr. Patel’s deputy Morarji Desai. Milk co-operatives were formed across all villages in Kaira, with the union collecting milk from its member farmers to sell to the Government. Farmers refused to sell to any milk contractor in the district if the government refused to buy from the union.
First milk plant of the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union in Anand
As the Government refused to budge, and the farmers too remained resolute in their demand,no milk was transported to Bombay from Anand for fifteen days. Finally, the Bombay government relented and the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union Limited was formally registered on December 14, 1946. Within two years, by June 1948, the union began pasteurizing milk, producing 250 litres of milk via its two village co-operatives and 432 member-farmers. By the end of that year, the union began producing 5000 litres of milk per day.
Amul’s growth under Dr. Kurien
Dr. Verghese Kurian, a dairy engineer, arrived in Anand in May 1949 to serve a one-year bond at a government creamery. After he was requested to extend his stay in Anand by the union’s chairman Thribhuvandas Patel, Dr. Kurien became actively involved in the union, taking up a post as its Executive Head in 1950. Under his leadership, the union set up a processing plant in Anand to use the excess milk produced by buffaloes in the winter to produce milk powder and butter.
The processing plant helped supplement the farmers’ income, and milk products were being produced from buffalo milk – a historic first. The products generated from the processing plant were branded as ‘Amul,’ derived from the Sanskrit word ‘Amulya’ which means ‘priceless’ or precious.’
From the L&T Silkborg plate pasteuriser that he installed at the Amul Diary in 1950, to the state-of-the-art model dairy plant at the National Dairy Research Institute in Karnal, Haryana, Dr. Verghese Kurien has seen it all.
After the successful launch of the plant, Dr. Kurien was roped in by the then-Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to replicate the Amul model throughout the nation. Thoroughly impressed by the co-operative movement used to help dairy farmers in Kaira, Mr. Shastri urged Dr. Kurien to design a project to improve the socio-economic condition of the nation’s farmers via the Amul model.
Operation Flood (1970-1996)
Dr. Kurien, who was now heading the newly-established National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), launched ‘Operation Flood’ i.e. the White Revolution, implemented in three phases, to help farmers take production, marketing and development of milk and milk products into their own hands. By establishing milk producers’ co-operatives in 700 towns and cities, NDDB created a national milk grid, which resulted in increased milk production, augmented rural incomes and offered reasonable prices for consumers.
After the implementation of the three phases of ‘Operation Flood,’ India’s dairy co-operative movement had 72,000 societies, with women members and Women’s Dairy Co-operative Societies also increasing significantly. With an increased focus on research and development in animal health and nutrition, the productivity of milch animals also increased, leading to India becoming the largest dairy producer in the world. Initially, the Kaira model was expanded to other districts in Gujarat — Mehsana, Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha, and Surat.
Launched in 1970, Operation Flood, spearheaded by Verghese Kurien, who was named the Chairman of NDDB by PM Lal Bahadur Shastri, transformed India from a milk-deficient nation into the world’s largest milk producer
During ‘Operation Flood’, the GCMMF was set up in 1973 to market products from all district-level milk cooperative unions in Gujarat, thereby avoiding market competition between producers. The GCMMF received the ‘Amul’ brand from the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers’ Union. Dr. Kurien took over as GCMMF’s first Chairman and remained its helm till 2006. And Amul became the largest dairy cooperative, partnering with 36 lakh women dairy farmers across 18,565 village cooperatives in Gujarat.
Under his management, Amul expanded its product range, creating chocolates, cheese, baby food, skim milk powder — all from buffalo milk, a first for the dairy industry. With the largest network of dairy farmers, the GCMMF took on dairy giants like Nestlé and Mondelez, ramping up its production capacity to 1000 metric tonne per month at its chocolate plant established in Mogar, Anand in 2018.
Post-Kurien era
On March 20, 2006, Dr. Kurien resigned as GCMMF chairman following differences between him and the board of directors. For several years prior, Dr. Kurien had become fiercely protective of the co-operative movement and Amul, as more private players entered the dairy sector in India. As differences of opinion grew, the GCMMF board planned to oust Dr. Kurien by passing a no-confidence motion against him. Cornered, Amul’s ‘Milkman’ Dr. Kurien resigned, drawing curtains on his 35-year tenure birthing and leading Amul.
In 2010-11, GCMMF ventured outside Gujarat for procuring milk. Amul currently has satellite dairy plants in Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, apart from Gujarat. It also has cattle feed plants in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Punjab, and food processing units in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. By 2023, Amul began procuring 40 lakh litres per day outside Gujarat, while its farmers in the State provide 250-270 lakh litres. From the initial 250 litres, Amul now collects 310 lakh litres per day in peak season.
Amul products seen on display | Photo Credit: AMIT DAVE
Apart from fresh milk, Amul offers a huge variety of milk products like ice-cream, curd, ghee, butter, paneer, buttermilk, shrikhand, Ultra Heat Treatment (UHT) milk, condensed milk, ghee, milk-based drinks, milk powder, dairy whitener, fresh juices, mocktails, and sweets. It has also expanded into bakery goods, chips and organic foods. Keeping its focus on cattle, Amul offers veterinary products, cattle feed, organic fertilizers, and homeopathic medicines.
With a plethora of products to offer, Amul began exporting its dairy products initially in the 1990s, post-Operation Flood, thereby boosting its turnover. By 2000, Amul’s turnover rose to $500 million, and in 2006-07 it became a billion-dollar cooperative and India’s largest exporter of dairy products. Scaling its exports, Amul currently exports its dairy products to over 50 countries. Exports constituted 2% of its total turnover, which was Rs 72,000 crores ($ 9 billion) in FY 23-24.
Amul diversifies into Green energy
In the past decade, Amul has also diversified its focus to biofuel after the Modi government started investing more in green energy. In 2014, Amul’s first biogas energy plant was established in Anand’s Sundalpur village in Gujarat. Apart from biogas, the plant also produces fertilisers, liquid manure, and herbal pesticides. With an investment of Rs 230 crores, Amul has four such biogas plants in Banaskantha, Gujarat.
Bharat Bio Gas Energy Ltd plant at Sundalpur
Speaking to Businessline, GCMMF MD Jayen Mehta said, “The Banas BioCNG Plant has been successfully running for the past three years. It has supplied clean fuel to approximately one lakh CNG vehicles in the district. This initiative not only provides farmers with an additional income source but also offers clean fuel and organic fertiliser. Processing over 3.4 crore kg of dung, it has a sustainable impact on both the agricultural and energy sectors.”
The Amul Girl
One of the biggest factors contributing to Amul’s success has been its sustained advertising campaign. Since 1966, Adman Sylvester daCunha’s iconic noseless girl with blue hair and a red polka-dot frock has been Amul’s mascot around the world. The ad campaign, which weighs in on topical news issues (political or otherwise), now holds the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running advertising campaign in the world.
Focusing on farmers in the 1960s, daCunha branded Amul’s ad campaign with his iconic tagline ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious,’ aiming to dislodge Polson from its prime position in Bombay. Later, he evolved the campaign to keep it topical, effective and economical. Through the ages, the Amul girl’s campaign has grown larger, from outdoor hoardings to print, television, digital and now social media.
Amul’s topical advertisement for the screening of Shyam Benegal’s classic Manthan at the Cannes film festival 2024
In an interview with Hindu Businessline, former GCMMF MD RS Sodhi said, “In the advertising industry, everyone wants to leave their stamp on the brand. This makes it difficult to keep the campaign intact for decades. While Sylvester retired 15 years ago, Amul and his team continued with the legacy without any change and we have the world’s longest campaign.” As of date, GCMMF spends less than 1% of its turnover on advertising, Mr. Sodhi said.
In 2021, Amul used its ad campaign to hit out at growing demands to switch to vegan, non-dairy products. After the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) urged Amul to begin producing plant-based vegan milk, it issued several ‘myth-busting’ advertisements championing dairy farming and claimed any alternative to milk ‘masquerading as dairy product’ was illegal. It also highlighted that switching to vegan milk would deprive 100 million poor farmers of their livelihood and wipe off Rs 8 lakh crores from India’s annual GDP.
Amul goes global
Entering the global stage, Amul began selling fresh millk in the United States this May via its co-operative partner Michigan Milk Producers Association. Accessing markets in Chicago, Dallas, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, Amul’s range of fresh milk will be launched in one-gallon (3.8 litres) and half-a-gallon (1.9 litres) packs – Amul Gold (6% fat), Amul Shakti (4.5%), Amul Taaza (3% fat) and Amul Slim n Trim (2% fat), similar to the composition used in India. After its US launch, Amul is also planning to launch in more countries.
