Amul celebrates 75th anniversary and €6bn turnover
The Amul co-operative movement has marked its 75th anniversary, by reaching a group turnover of Rs. 53,000 crores (€6.01 billion). The Amul co-operative movement was born in 1946, as an offshoot of India’s struggle for independence, when farmers in central Gujarat went on strike against the exploitative policies of the British colonial government.
The co-operative began with two small villages collecting just 250 litres of milk per day, in 1946. Today, it handles more than 29 million litres of milk on a peak operating day and is the largest food and FMCG brand in India.
In 2020-21, the milk procurement of all member unions under Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul Federation), registered 14% growth in 2021, over the previous year, the company reported at its annual meeting. The co-operative handled an extra 3.5 to four million litres of milk every day during the pandemic period.
Despite the negative impact of the coronavirus on demand from restaurants, hotels and the catering segment, as well as an adverse impact on dairy commodity markets, Amul Federation registered turnover of Rs. 39,248 crores (€4.4bn) in 2020-21, while Amul group turnover crossed Rs.53,000 crores. The consumer pack business of Amul grew by 8.1%, while bulk dairy commodities, as well as sales from restaurants and hotels suffered a decline. The co-operative now aims to double its group turnover to Rs. 1 lakh crores by the year 2025. Amul is currently ranked 8th on IFCN’s global ranking of dairy organisations, climbing rapidly from 18th position in 2012 to 8th in 2020.
Shri Shamalbhai Patel, chairman of the Amul Federation, says: “Over the last 11 years our milk procurement has witnessed a phenomenal increase of 171%. This enormous growth was a result of the high milk procurement price paid to our farmer-members, which has increased by 136% in this period. The highly remunerative price has helped us retain the farmers’ interest in milk production; and better returns from dairying have motivated them to enhance their investments in increasing milk production.”
The chairman thanked the government of India for creating the new Ministry of Cooperation and said that many small farmers and traders will benefit from this move, as it will further strengthen the role of co-operatives as a true grassroots level, people based movement.
During the pandemic, Amul swiftly re-modelled its last mile supply chain in multiple ways, to reach out to people who were spending more time at home, it says. Amul made its range of products available to doorsteps of consumers via all home delivery options, including e-commerce. Through its digital campaign on Facebook live, Amul created the world’s largest live recipe show, giving chefs a platform to showcase their recipes to consumers, using Amul products. Since immunity a was prime concern in the mind of consumers during this period, Amul also launched a range of new products and variants based on immunity.
The 75th anniversary celebrations of Amul as well as the birth centenary of its founder Dr Verghese Kurien will be marked by several events across the year.