New Delhi, July 24, 2021: Amul cooperative movement has marked its 75th anniversary,by crossing group turnover of Rs. 53,000 crores (or US$ 7.1 billion). Amul cooperative movement was born in the year 1946, as an offshoot of India’s struggle for independence, when farmers in central Gujarat went on strike against exploitative policies of then British colonial government. This cooperative which began with two small villages collecting just 250 litres of milk per day, in 1946, today handles more than 29million litres of milk on a peak operating day.Today, 75 years hence, Amul is the largest food and FMCG brand in India.
In the year 2020-21, the milk procurement of all member unions under Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul Federation), registered 14% growth in 2021, over the previous year.The cooperative handled extra 35-40 lakh liters of milk, every day, during the pandemic period. Results of the apex body of dairy cooperatives in Gujarat were declared on 20th July 2021, in the 47th Annual General Meeting of Amul Federation. Despite the negative impact of Covid pandemic on demand from restaurants, hotels and catering segment, as well as adverse impact on dairy commodity markets, Amul Federation registered turnover of Rs. 39,248 crores in 2020-21, while Amul group turnover crossed Rs. 53,000 crores. Consumer pack business of Amul grew by 8.1%, while bulk dairy commodities, as well as sales from restaurants and hotels suffered a decline in 2020-21, due to Covid. The cooperative now aims to double its group turnover to Rs. 1 lakh crores by the year 2025. Amul is currently ranked 8th on IFCN’s global ranking of dairy organizations, climbing rapidly from 18th position in 2012 to 8th rank in 2020.
Shri Shamalbhai Patel, Chairman, Amul Federation, emphasized the fact that “Over the last eleven years our milk procurement has witnessed a phenomenal increase of 171%. This enormous growth was a result of the high milk procurement price paid to our farmer-members which has increased by 136% in this period. The highly remunerative price has helped us retain the farmers’ interest in milk production; and better returns from dairying have motivated them to enhance their investments in increasing milk production“
Shri Shamalbhai Patel added “During the Covid pandemic of 2020-21, our team rose admirably to the challenge of ensuring that consumers had access to their favourite Amul products, despite restrictions on movement and several other challenges imposed by the pandemic.” The Chairman thanked Government of India for creating the new Ministry of Cooperation and said that lakhs of small farmers and traders will benefit from this move, as it will further strengthen the role of cooperatives as true grassroots level, people based movement. “Formation of this new ministry further emphasizes the importance of cooperatives in our society and economy”, he added. Shri Shamalbhai Patel also thanked the Government of Gujarat, Chief Minister of Gujarat and Deputy Chief Minister of Gujarat, for special Covid financial support of Rs. 50 per Kg, recently extended to the dairy cooperatives in Gujarat to export skimmed milk powder. “This will protect our dairy producers and farmers from international fluctuations in the SMP prices and assure them remunerative returns”, he added.
The Vice-Chairman of Amul Federation, Shri ValamjiHumbal, stated“Our ultimate objective is to become the largest dairy organization in the entire world, ensuring health, nutrition and wellness of people across India and then around the globe, thereby ensuring continuous prosperity and remunerative livelihood for Indian dairy farmers. This would be our fitting tribute to the legacy of the legendary Dr. Verghese Kurien, whose Birth Centenary coincides with 75th anniversary of Amul cooperative movement. Dr. Verghese Kurien was born in 1921 and became associated with Amul Cooperative movement in 1949, dedicating his entire life to the service of Indian farmers”.
Shri R S Sodhi, Managing Director, Amul Federation,informed that “since out-of-home consumption in hotels, restaurants, cafes, and catering segments was significantly impacted during the Covid pandemic, we focused our attention on enhancing in-home consumption of our products. We redesigned our marketing campaigns to educate and inform consumers about using our range of products to try our restaurant-style dishes at home. Impressive growth in sales of our consumers products in household segment, helped us overcome the impact on demand from Institutional segment”.Shri Sodhi added.
Amul swiftly re-modelled its last mile supply chain in multiple ways, to reach out to people who were spending more time at home, due to apprehensions regarding Covid pandemic. Amul leveraged effectively on all online and home delivery platforms including e-commerce to make its wide range of products available to doorsteps of consumers. Managing last mile during COVID 19 was challenging for Amul in 2020-21 and entire Amul team, along with their Channel partners, functioned like true Covid-warriors and went beyond their call of duty ensuring availability of entire range of Amul products during these challenging times. Through its innovative digital campaign on facebook live, Amul created world’s largest live recipe show, giving chefs a platform to showcase their recipes to consumers, using Amul products. Since immunity a was prime concern in the mind of consumers during this period, Amul also launched a range of new products and variants based on the platform of immunity.
75th anniversary celebrations of Amul cooperative movement as well as Birth Centenary of Dr. Verghese Kurien will be marked by several events which have been planned, across the year.
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
