According to reports from The Economic Times, Amul, the cooperative that started with 250 litres of milk a day in 1946, crossed ₹1 lakh crore in annual sales last year. The cooperative now operates through 18 member unions, runs over 120 dairy plants, and sells approximately 1,200 SKUs across 28 lakh retail outlets in India. It exports to more than 50 countries, demonstrating remarkable growth from its humble beginnings in two village societies in Gujarat.
As reported by The Economic Times, India now has roughly 200,000 dairy cooperative societies across all 28 states, making it the world's largest milk producer handling 25% of total global milk output. According to Managing Director Jayen Mehta, within a decade, India's share could rise to one-third of global production. The value of India's milk output now exceeds the combined value of wheat, paddy, and oilseeds, with around 10 crore families depending on dairy for their livelihood.
According to The Economic Times, the 2025 GST reductions on dairy products are described as one of the most significant policy decisions in the sector's history. The changes include ghee and butter dropping from 12% to 5%, ice cream from 18% to 5%, and paneer and UHT milk moving to zero. Mehta noted that when a consumer spends ₹100 on an Amul product, over 80% flows back directly to the milk producer, compared to 35-40% in the US, Europe, and New Zealand. The GST cuts remove tax arbitrage that allowed unorganised players to undercut branded products.
As reported by The Economic Times, India's dairy sector is moving beyond basic milk to dahi, buttermilk, lassi, cheese, butter, ghee, and processed products that carry higher margins and longer shelf lives. Mehta emphasized that milk's nutritional density makes it uniquely versatile as a raw material, delivering protein, calcium, vitamins, and minerals in a digestible form. The shift from loose, unpackaged milk to pasteurised pouches was itself a major leap in value addition, with the sector now focusing on products with higher profitability and longer shelf life.
According to The Economic Times, Mehta emphasized that the cooperative model's core purpose — maximising returns to the farmer rather than to shareholders — enables India's unusually high producer-to-consumer revenue ratio. He argued that this ratio is not just an ethical achievement but a competitive one that private models elsewhere have consistently failed to match. Both cooperatives and private dairy companies play a role in growing the sector, but the cooperative model's focus on farmer returns provides a sustainable competitive advantage.
