New Delhi, August 20, 2026: Dr Meenesh Shah, chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), exchanged the hosting agreement with Laurence Rycken, director general of the International Dairy Federation (IDF), on 12 February 2026 in New Delhi. The exchange took place during the Indian Dairy Association’s 52nd Dairy Industry Conference.
The event was attended by Chirag Paswan, India’s Union minister for food processing industries, and SP Singh Baghel, minister of state for fisheries, animal husbandry and dairying and for panchayati raj. Shah also serves as an IDF board member and as member secretary of the Indian National Committee of the IDF.
The summit will be organised by the Indian National Committee of the IDF at the Jio World Convention Centre in Mumbai. Its scheduled dates are 16–19 November 2027, and organisers expect more than 1,500 participants from around the world.
The programme will include meetings of the IDF board, its general assembly and several technical committees. Expected participants include policymakers, dairy farmers, co-operatives, processors, researchers, financial institutions, start-ups and technology companies. The organisers said delegates would represent a majority of the international dairy market according to the reports published in dairynews.today.
IDF members approved India’s bid to host the 2027 summit at the federation’s 118th General Assembly in Paris on 14 October 2024. India last hosted the event in 2022 in the Delhi-NCR region; that summit was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The World Dairy Summit is the IDF’s main annual event. It brings together dairy-sector stakeholders to examine global conditions in the industry, address technical and policy matters, and discuss strategic priorities. The IDF, an international non-governmental organisation, was established in 1903 and has about 40 member countries.
