Chairman Speech - 51st Annual General Body Meeting
CHAIRMAN'S SPEECH
Madam and Gentlemen,
Let me begin by extending my heartiest congratulations to 3.6 million dairy farmers of Gujarat, who have successfully built the strongest food and dairy brand in the entire world.
STRONGEST FOOD AND DAIRY BRAND IN THE WORLD
I am delighted to inform you that Amul is ranked as the strongest food brand and strongest dairy brand in the world, as per Food & Drink 2024, the annual report by Brand Finance, one of the leading brand consultancies in the world. This recognition of Amul as the world’s strongest food and dairy brand is a testament to our consistent innovation, effective marketing strategies, and strong consumer trust. Our commitment to quality and our extensive product range has made Amul a household name not just in India but across the globe.
In the words of our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji, "Since India’s independence, numerous brands have emerged in the country, but none quite like Amul. Amul embodies trust, progress, public participation, and the empowerment of farmers. Amul epitomises the fusion of modernity with tradition, serving as an inspiration for a self-reliant Bharat, characterised by lofty aspirations, resolutions, and remarkable achievements.”
U.N. INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF COOPERATIVES
The year 2025 is special for us as it heralds the International Year of Cooperatives, as proclaimed by the United Nations. Amul, the largest farmer-owned dairy cooperative in the world, proudly supports this initiative. Under the leadership and guidance of our Hon’ble Union Minister for Home & Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah ji, we are actively spearheading several Sahkar se Samruddhi (prosperity through cooperation) activities launched by the Indian government.
In order to make banking services accessible to our dairy farmers, we have collaborated with the cooperative banks of Gujarat. Every day, INR 200 crore (INR 2,000 million) flows back to the dairy farmers of Amul as remuneration for the milk they pour into our cooperative. Channelising these high-volume transactions through cooperative banks, is not only helping to strengthen the cooperative banking sector, but is also providing our dairy farmers with the facility of doorstep banking, along with the convenience of ATMs/ micro-ATMs in their own village. Dairy cooperatives led by Amul have transformed India from a milk deficit country to the world’s largest milk producing nation in just the short span of a few decades. The Amul cooperative movement has contributed immensely towards nation-building by enabling our country to gain self-sufficiency.
EMERGING DAIRY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Amul serves as a testament to how visionary decisions can shape the destiny of future generations. Since our inception in 1946 as an offshoot of India’s freedom movement under the guidance of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the dairy cooperative movement has proliferated in Gujarat. Thanks to such concerted efforts, farmers of the Amul movement have inspired Operation Flood and have thereby enabled India to emerge as the largest milk-producing country globally, with approximately 8 crore (80 million) people directly involved in the dairy sector. With 24% of global dairy production, as well as consumption, India is fast emerging as the dairy capital of the world. Presently, Amul stands as the eighth-largest dairy processor globally and our Hon’ble Prime Minister has assigned us the goal of becoming the largest dairy organisation in the world at the earliest.
As India aspires to become a developed nation by 2047, Amul has the dual responsibility of ensuring India’s self-sufficiency in milk and dairy, a critical dimension of our food and nutritional security, as well as ensuring economic prosperity in rural India.
GOING GLOBAL AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AMONG COOPERATIVES
While Amul products have been exported to more than 50 countries across the world for the last few decades, we have now achieved a monumental milestone by establishing an end-to-end dairy value chain in USA. In the spirit of the 6th principle of cooperation, which promotes cooperation among cooperatives, Amul has partnered with the 108-year-old cooperative organisation, Michigan Milk Producers Association (MMPA) to launch fresh milk in the US market. We are currently selling four variants of Amul milk, buttermilk and high protein chocolate milk, all packed in USA, along with fresh curd exported from India, across 33 states of USA.
Most recently we have extended this effort to Europe, where we have collaborated with COVAP, the second largest cooperative in Spain, for packing of Amul milk. In June 2025, we have launched Amul milk in multiple cities of Spain and Portugal and we plan to eventually extend our market coverage to all countries of the European Union.
USD 11 BILLION DAIRY COOPERATIVE
With a group turnover of INR 90,000 crore (INR 900 billion) or almost USD 11 billion per annum, we are well on our way to becoming the preferred brand and supplier of high-quality milk and dairy products to customers across the world. We are striving hard to fulfil the dream of our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi ji that Amul products should be a part of every meal, on every dining table across the world.
The Amul group, including GCMMF and other milk unions, has been the largest FMCG organisation in India for many years, with an unduplicated brand turnover of INR 90,000 crore (INR 900 billion). In 2024-25, your Federation by itself has achieved a turnover of INR 65,911 crore (INR 659.1 billion), overtaking Hindustan Unilever to become the largest standalone FMCG organisation in India.
LEADING THE PROTEIN REVOLUTION
Urban India faces a high rate of protein deficiency due to modern lifestyles and carbohydrate-rich diets. Our recent efforts mark a notable shift in addressing this protein gap. By expanding our portfolio with dairy protein-rich products that cater to fitness needs and nutritional goals, we are fulfilling a role that promotes public health and wellness. Dairy proteins are considered highly beneficial for humans primarily due to their complete amino acid profile, high digestibility, and overall nutritional value. Dairy proteins contain all nine essential amino acids in relatively good proportions, making them a complete protein source. They are also easily broken down and absorbed by the digestive system, meaning the amino acids are readily available for the body to use.
Since we handle more than 32 million litres of milk every day, we actually process in various forms, nearly 400,000 MTs of high-quality dairy proteins per annum. In order to address protein deficiency in urban India, in recent years we have introduced a wide portfolio of high dairy protein-rich milk products, including High Protein lassi, High Protein milk, High Protein milkshakes, High Protein dahi, High Protein powder sachets and, most recently, High Protein kulfi, in the market. While we have launched our High Protein range only through our own D2C platform, shop.amul.in, the demand is very high and is growing rapidly.
SPEARHEADING THE ORGANIC REVOLUTION
The food we grow and the food we eat should always be chemical-free and nutrient-rich. At Amul, we believe in doing things the natural way. Accordingly, we introduced the Amul Organic range, a step towards a healthier and cleaner world. Keeping in mind the well-being of our customers and Mother Earth, we encourage organic farming. We source harvest from farmers who grow crops without pesticides. This chemical-free produce is then processed and packed in organic certified facilities.
The Amul Organic range comes with the brand’s 75 years of trust and National Program for Organic Production (NPOP) certification. After revolutionising the dairy industry, we are now on a mission to make organic food accessible to all and ensure that every meal of every Indian is nourishing. We believe in inclusiveness and the need of the hour is organic food consumption. That’s why we are ‘democratising organic’ – making organic food accessible to more people, from the field to the package to the store shelf to the family kitchen.
OUR CUTTING-EDGE DIGITAL THRUST
Handling a complex value chain for a highly perishable raw material while connecting 3.6 million dairy farmers spread across 18,600 villages of Gujarat to millions of consumers across India and more than 50 countries across the world, has only been possible because of a strong IT backbone and seamless IT integration. We have taken several initiatives to take the digital thrust forward towards enhanced consumer and trade connectivity, as well as to generate digital engagement and long-term customer relationships. The following are among those spearheading Amul’s rapid acceleration in the 21st century:
- D2C Platform shop.amul.in: On our own D2C Platform, we provide the convenience of online order-booking and home delivery of 130 SKUs, across 15 product categories, generating business of INR 100 million per month. This channel is growing rapidly month on month. We have several exclusive D2C products, including the entire High Protein range. We are able to service consumers residing anywhere in India with timely deliveries, generating average order value exceeding INR 1,500. Our D2C initiative helps us to service customer demand for exotic and speciality products such as camel milk or mono-flora honey, sports drinks, high protein products, regardless of where consumers actually reside.
- Locate Amul: The mobile app that helps our consumers easily locate the nearest shops on the digital map, where they can find their favourite Amul products.
- Amul Cart: The B2B Mobile app for our trade partners, where a retailer can browse through the entire range of Amul products at their convenience and place orders, which will then be serviced through assigned channel partners.
- Amul Dairy Trade: Our B2B Dairy Commodity Auction platform, providing B2B buyers with complete transparency and ease of transactions when they buy high quality dairy commodities from Amul.
- Amul Mart: Another B2B initiative for our Channel Partners to take full advantage of our trade promotion initiatives, making the entire process as convenient and transparent as possible.
- D2R Initiatives: This is a special initiative that has already been piloted at multiple locations. It combines our digital capabilities and supply chain expertise, to directly service demand from retailers in specific geographies.
- Amul Pashudhan App: This is a comprehensive platform for managing livestock, offering a range of services to optimise cattle health and breeding processes. The app also includes a feature to list cattle for sale, with details like milk yield, breed and price, acting as an alternative marketplace for cattle.
TRANSFORMING THE WAY WE WORK
We have a wide range of more than 1,300 SKUs, 50+ product categories, 100+ dairy factories and 270 of our own warehouses across India to handle our range of ambient, chilled and frozen products. The sheer size, scale and rapid growth of operations necessitated that we radically transform the way we work. This is essential in order to maintain accelerated growth and expansion in the coming years and decades. During the year 2024-25, your Federation undertook the most significant re-organisation and re-structuring exercise in our entire history.
Restructuring the Product Range: Based on sales volumes and velocity of sales, we restructured our entire range into pareto and long tail sub-ranges.
Hub & Spoke Supply Chain Model: Specifically for the long tail range, which includes more than 80% of the entire SKU range, a new Hub & Spoke supply chain model was created. Under it, 14 regional aggregation warehouses regulated systematic movement across the supply chain, ensuring smooth velocity, sales adherence and enabling forward movement of one week’s inventory at a time, from one level to the next. The key benefits of the Hub & Spoke model included ensuring that the freshest possible inventory reaches the retail shelves and consumers’ kitchens on a continuous basis. It also ensured availability of the maximum range of Amul products on retail shelves in a timely manner. This eliminated or reduced the possibility of any loss of business due to non-availability, while also bringing down the possibility of inventory accumulation arising due to supply chain fluctuations. Further, this initiative also significantly enhanced the confidence level of our channel partners and trade partners, motivating them to invest enthusiastically in our business.
Automation and Mechanisation of Warehouses: We undertook a major modernisation of our warehouses and supply chain systems across India, using state-of-the-art technology with multi-racking warehouses, use of forklifts, dock levellers and palletisation of inventory. This enhanced ease of storage and transportation from our factories to our own Hub & Spoke supply chain systems and finally to thousands of our distributors across the country.
Warehouse Management Systems: We have started implementing warehouse management systems at our distribution warehouses across India to enhance the efficiency and efficacy of supply chain operations and seamlessly integrate them with our existing IT backbone.
Transitioning from Monthly to Weekly Sales Measurement: To further enhance efficacy of sales management, we have transitioned from monthly to weekly sales planning, monitoring and measurement. This enables more effective control systems with flexibility of real-time corrections, if required.
MAPPING & BRIDGING THE BLUE OCEAN
Developing and launching new products from the basket of Amul has always been an integral part of our DNA. In the year 2024-25, we launched 70 new products, a rate of more than one new product launch per week. In addition, we currently have more than 70 new products under development and testing. With a rapidly widening range of new products, it was decided to restructure the sales teams and create a special team of highly experienced and competent sales champions to focus on business development and sales for the new product ranges. This Blue Ocean team is working to lay the foundation for businesses which will become the pillar of Amul’s portfolio in years and decades to come. This future-focused visionary approach will help us realise our dream of becoming the largest dairy organisation in the world in the shortest possible time.
FUNCTIONALITY & WELLNESS
Our Amul Probiotic Dahi, Ice-creams and Buttermilk are designed to support gut health, improve digestive functions, enhance immunity, and contribute to overall wellness. Growing consumer awareness about the importance of gut microbiota in maintaining health and preventing diseases is now driving the demand for probiotics. We have actually converted our entire Amul buttermilk in pouch packing to probiotics and more than five million customers consume Amul probiotic products every day. Along with probiotics, Amul has a wide range of immunity enhancing milk beverages, a lactose free range, a sugar-free range of products, camel milk, which has widely acknowledged wellness attributes, as well as exotic innovations such as the first-ever ready-to-feed infant milk food in liquid form. We will strive continuously to introduce more and more innovations to help our customers make healthier choices.
PREMIUM EXPERIENCES AND CATERING TO INDULGENCES
Our international-style Amul Ice Lounges in 18 cities of India bring exotic ice-creams of the world to Indian customers. This enables customers to experience delightful flavours such as Jamaican Toto and American mud-pie within an ambience of elegant décor. The same spirit of catering to the finer senses brought forth a wide range of premium single-origin chocolates and single-origin cold coffees, with the cocoa beans and coffee beans coming from specific countries each with their own special and exotic flavour profile. Ethnic Indian desserts with a wide range of Indian sweets and mithai from the basket of Amul are not only helping people celebrate the special moments in their lives, but are also giving them the assurance of an honest disclosure of ingredients and purity that is synonymous with brand Amul.
SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVES AND CLEAN ENERGY
We have been taking steps to strengthen the circular economy of the country and this is empowering not just the dairy farmers, but also the planet. Though cows give milk for only 300 days in a year, which is their lactation cycle, they produce dung every day. Amul, which has a large number of cattle, has started the process of collecting the dung through its network of cooperatives. From the dung, we get methane and that is converted into biogas which can light stoves in the houses of farmers and can also be used as bio-fuel in cars. Bio-fertiliser, which is produced as part of the same process, goes to the fields. Our dairy farmers get additional income from the dung that the cow produces, our nation’s import bill on fuel and fertilisers comes down and more importantly, the consumers also get food which is produced without the use of chemical fertilisers.
LAUNCH OF SARDAR PATEL COOPERATIVE DAIRY FEDERATION LIMITED: A VISION OF SAHAKAR SE SAMRIDDHI
Extending our proven Amul model of cooperative strength to every corner of India, the Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited (SPCDF) was launched by the Hon’ble Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah, in Anand, on 6th July 2025. The new federation has been established under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act, with an initial capital of INR 200 crore (INR 2,000 million), and represents a significant step towards realising the national vision of "Sahakar se Samriddhi”.
SPCDF will enable more than 20 lakh (two million) dairy farmers from over 20,000 villages in 20 states to become direct members of an organised cooperative structure beyond Gujarat’s borders. The shareholding is designed to ensure that the core stakeholders remain the farmers themselves, supported by GCMMF’s strong management, marketing expertise, and the operational strength of local milk unions. Together, they will anchor this national cooperative network, ensuring the flow of quality milk from village collection centres to consumers across India.
LAUNCH OF A SALT COOPERATIVE BY GCMMF AND SARHAD DAIRY IN KUTCH, GUJARAT
In a landmark move towards farmer empowerment and national self-reliance, the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) and Sarhad Dairy have launched the Shree Kutch District Dariya Kantha Vistrani Mitha Utpadak and Vahechan Sahkari Mandli Limited in the Kutch district — the heart of India’s salt production. Over 3,000 Agariyas will be initially organised, and receive fair prices. They will also gain a stake in the value chain. Salt will be procured directly, hygienically processed, and marketed under GCMMF’s robust network — replicating Amul’s success story in dairy.
Taking inspiration from the successful Amul dairy model, this cooperative will directly link producers with processing, packaging, and marketing through GCMMF’s extensive distribution network. This landmark initiative was launched by the Hon’ble Minister of Home Affairs and Cooperation, Shri Amit Shah ji, in Anand, on 6th July 2025.
READY-TO-USE CULTURE (RUC): PAVING THE WAY FOR AN ATMANIRBHAR DAIRY SECTOR
As a major ‘make-in-India’ initiative, we have set up a Ready-to-use Culture manufacturing facility in Banas Dairy, Palanpur, Gujarat, which has now been commissioned for making pro-biotic cultures for products like buttermilk and dahi. Earlier, 90% of starter culture demand in India was met through imports, resulting in a significant outflow of foreign exchange. This initiative of manufacturing starter cultures in India will help to reduce India’s reliance on imports. By fostering self-reliance in dairy culture, this initiative supports the vision of an "Atmanirbhar Bharat” and opens the doors for export opportunities to neighbouring countries with similar dietary trends.
As eloquently articulated by our Hon’ble Prime Minister, Amul is truly the symbol of a self-reliant Bharat. We assure our countrymen and our dairy farmers that we will do everything in our power to meet their expectations and propel India to a position of leadership on the global dairy map.
Thank you
Regards,
Shri. Ashokbhai B Chaudhary
Chairman