World Milk Day: Here's How Amul Products Keep Adapting To Changing Market To Remain On Top

Amul is a dairy cooperative started by the government initiative in 1946. Handled by the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), Amul's innovations led to India's White Revolution in the 1950s-60s. It has expanded its market from just milk products to organic food products such as whole wheat and cereals. It has also entered the international food processing market through potato production and will launch its pulses and rice.

Taking Over The Milk Industry

Through the efforts of Verghese Kurien, Tribhuvandas Patel and H M Dalaya, Amul revolutionised the milk industry with the innovation of skimmed milk powder from buffalo milk. This was done as Amul had promised to buy all the milk from local producers, but the easily spoiled nature of milk posed a challenge. It led to Amul storing surplus milk and having more outreach, dominating the market in Gujarat. Following the momentum, Amul launched butter as its first milk product in 1955, challenging the Polson company's monopoly in the Bombay Milk Scheme. Further, it began marketing cheese powder in 1959 and processed cheese in the 1970s, leading to its incontestable hegemony over milk products, as cited in the IBS Centre For Management and Research (ICMR) India.

Diversifying Amul Products In The Market

Adapting to the emerging competitive market post-liberalisation and entry of private players in India, Amul remains essential. It has constantly been growing to participate in the market. Amul launched 'Amul Taaza' milk in tetra packs with Ultra-High Temperature (UHT) treated milk, becoming the leader in the packaged milk market without the cost of maintaining cold storage.

Amul was recognised in Rabobank's Global Top 20 Dairy Companies List in 2019. Recently, Amul started exporting potato snacks to foreign markets in the US, UAE, Canada, etc. According to the post by Index of Gujarat, it established a new potato processing plant with HyFun Foods, Iscon Balaji Foods and McCain Foods, investing almost ₹1,000 Crores. Amul has also announced its first organic product- whole wheat flour will enter markets in June this year while planning to incorporate rice, pulses, etc., as reported by the Mint.

One of the highlights of Amul products is its ability to localise and sustain its growth across diverse Indian states. As tweeted by Ruchir Shah, during the Indian Premier League (IPL) finals on May 29, Amul set up a stall to give Shrikhand and Puri combo to the spectators at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Gujarat.

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