AMUL breaking its own record, setting an example for other Milk Cooperatives

Pashu Sandesh, 14th April 2019

The white revolution which started with the formation of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Limited ( GCMMF) which market its products under brand name AMUL has come a long way and now setting examples of Marketing success by breaking its own turnover records year after year. GCMMF reported a 13% increase in turnover at Rs 33,150 crore in 2018-19, breaking its own record. The company posted a turnover of Rs 29,225 crores in 2017-18. The provisional unduplicated group turnover of Amul Federation and its 18-member unions crossed Rs 45,000 crore, also 13% higher than last year.

The increase in turnover and the resultant profit is not merely a year on year phenomenon. This was only made possible by the visionary expansion strategies by AMUL management. As per the MD AMUL, RS Sodhi, the increase in turnover is the result of an increase in volume sales in all the milk product categories especially the pouched milk. AMUL has entered new markets through the slew of value-added products and a strong retail network. Recently AMUL has launched the Camel milk as a new milk product in their already rich inventory.

As per the GCMMF chairman RamSinh Parmar, AMUL Federation has plans for a 20% CAGR for the next five years and rapid expansion in the country would certainly help the cause of AMUL Federation.

AMUL federation is also planning to increase Milk processing capacity from the current 3.5 crore litres per day to 4 crore litres per day in the coming years. Amul’s 18 member unions, with more than 3.6 million farmers across 18,700 villages of Gujarat, procure on average 2.3 crore litres of milk a day, which is 10% higher than last year.

The success story of AMUL is an example for all Milk cooperatives all across the nation. Most of the Cooperatives are marred by their own internal poor policies regarding the expansion of their collection and milk processing capacity. From the consumer point of view, AMUL is providing a host of different milk products which are of the highest standard and are readily available at the competitive prices. AMUL is also pushing its products through aggressive marketing across all the media platforms and innovative advertising which often catches the attention of the consumer. In the current marketing driven scenario often a good marketing campaign ensures brand loyalty.

Other Cooperatives need to follow a similarly aggressive approach and innovation. New products should be introduced and advertised. A recent example of innovation by the AMUL is the marketing blitz for the newly launched new flavours of AMUL ice cream which are capturing the attention of consumer by their different colourful shapes and innovative ad campaign.

Milk Cooperatives in India marred by internal politics and poor management often leading to falling milk procurement prices, rising inventories of surplus SMPs and farmers unrest. Government policies do affect the working of Cooperatives but at least AMUL has shown that despite all the challenges how can a Cooperative be run successfully benefitting its stakeholders and marching ahead with ever-increasing challenge of breaking its own record turnover year after year.