Amul

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This article is about the Indian dairy cooperative. For the ancient city of mul along the Oxus,
see Trkmenabat. For the city in Iran, see Amol.
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (January 2012)

Amul (Anand Milk Union Limited)

Type

Cooperative

Industry

Dairy/FMCG

Founded

1946

Headquarters Anand, Gujarat, India

Key people

Chairman, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing

Federation Ltd. (GCMMF)

Products

See complete products listing

Revenue

US$3.1 billion (201314)

Employees

750 employees of Marketing Arm. However, real pool

consist of 3 million milk producer members[1]

Website

www.amul.com

The Amul Plant at Anand showing the milk silos

Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative, based at Anand in the state of Gujarat, India.[2] The
word amul () is derived from theSanskrit word amulya (), meaning valuable.[3] The cooperative was initially referred to as Anand Milk Federation Union Limitedhence the name AMUL.
Formed in 1946, it is a brand managed by a cooperative body, the Gujarat Co-operative Milk
Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF), which today is jointly owned by 3 million milk producers in
Gujarat.[4]
Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of
milk and milk products.[5] In the process Amul became the largest food brand in India and has
ventured into markets overseas.
Dr Verghese Kurien, founder-chairman of the GCMMF for more than 30 years (19732006), is
credited with the success of Amul.[6]
Contents
[hide]

1 History

2 About GCMMF

3 The three-tier "Amul Model"

3.1 District Cooperative Milk Producer's Union (Dugdh Sangh)

3.2 State Cooperative Milk Federation (Federation)

4 Impact of the "Amul Model"

o

4.1 The Amul brand

5 Products

6 UHT products and impact

7 Any Time Milk (ATM) Machine

8 Mascot

9 Advertising

10 In popular culture

11 References

12 External links

History[edit]
Amul the co-operative registered on 1 December 1946 as a response to the exploitation of
marginal milk producers by traders or agents of the only existing dairy, the Polson dairy, in the
small city distances to deliver milk, which often went sour in summer, to Polson. The prices of
milk were arbitrarily determined. Moreover, the government had given monopoly rights to Polson
to collect milk from Anand and supply it to Bombay city.[7][8]
Angered by the unfair trade practices, the farmers of Kaira approached Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel under the leadership of local farmer leader Tribhuvandas K. Patel. He advised them to form
a cooperative and supply milk directly to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson (who did
the same but gave them low prices).[9] He sent Morarji Desai to organise the farmers. In 1946,
the milk farmers of the area went on a strike which led to the setting up of the cooperative to
collect and process milk.[8] Milk collection was decentralized, as most producers were marginal
farmers who could deliver, at most, 12 litres of milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each
village, too.[10]
The cooperative was further developed and managed by Dr.Verghese Kurien with H.M. Dalaya.
Dalaya's innovation of making skim milk powder from buffalo milk (for the first time in the world)
and a little later, with Kurien's help, making it on a commercial scale, [11] led to the first modern
dairy of the cooperative at Anand, which would compete against established players in the
market.
The trio's (T. K. Patel, Kurien and Dalaya's) success at the cooperative's dairy soon spread to
Anand's neighbourhood in Gujarat. Within a short span, five unions in other districts Mehsana,
Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha and Surat were set up. [8] To combine forces and expand
the market while saving on advertising and avoid competing against each other, the GCMMF, an
apex marketing body of these district cooperatives, was set up in 1973. The Kaira Union, which
had the brand name Amul with it since 1955, transferred it to GCMMF.[12]
In June 2013, it was reported that the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited,
better known as Amul Dairy, had signed a tripartite agreement to start a dairy plant in Waterloo
village in upstate New York. The plant will initially manufacture paneer and ghee. Amul will use
an existing dairy plant owned by New Jersey-based NRI Piyush Patel for manufacturing. The
plant is strategically located, as it close to supply centres from where raw material is procured,
and is near New Jersey, which has a large Indian population.[13]
Amul said that it will be able to produce and supply Amul products in the US as well as Canada
and export it to Europe, under the arrangement.
Adding to the success, Dr. Madan Mohan Kashyap (faculty Agricultural and Engineering
Department, Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana), Dr. Bondurant (visiting faculty) and Dr
Feryll (former student of Dr Verghese Kurien), visited the Amul factory in Gujarat as a research
team headed by Dr. Bheemsen. Shivdayal Pathak (ex-director of the Sardar Patel Renewable
Energy Research Institute) in the 1960s. A milk pasteurization system at the Research Centre of
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Ludhiana was then formed under the guidance of Kashyap.
it is good product .

About GCMMF[edit]
Main article: GCMMF
The GCMMF is the largest food products marketing organisation of India. It is the apex
organisation of the dairy cooperatives of Gujarat. It is the exclusive marketing organisation for
products under the brand name of Amul and Sagar.[14] Over the last five and a half decades, dairy
cooperatives in Gujarat have created an economic network that links more than 3.1 million village
milk products with millions of consumers in India.[citation needed] The daily milk procurement of
GCMMF is around 13 million liters per day. It collects milk from about 16914 village milk
cooperative societies, 17 member unions and 24 districts covering about 3.18 million milk
producer members. More than 70% of the members are small or marginal farmers and landless

labourers including a sizeable population of tribal folk and people belonging to the
scheduled castes.[14]

The three-tier "Amul Model"[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this
article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and
removed. (February 2012)
The Amul Model is a three-tier cooperative structure. This structure consists of a dairy
cooperative society at the village level affiliated to a milk union at the district level which in turn is
federated into a milk federation at the state level. Milk collection is done at the village dairy
society, milk procurement and processing at the District Milk Union and milk and milk products
marketing at the state milk federation. The structure was evolved at Amul in Gujarat and
thereafter replicated all over the country under the Operation Flood programme. It is known as
the 'Amul Model' or 'Anand Pattern' of dairy cooperatives.
The main functions of the VDCS are:

Collection of surplus milk from the producers of the village and

payment based on quality and quantity,

Providing support services to the members like veterinary first

aid, artificial insemination services, cattle-feed sales, mineral
mixture sales, fodder and fodder seed sales, conducting training
on animal husbandry and dairying,

Selling liquid milk for local consumers of the village,

Supplying milk to the District Milk Union.

District Cooperative Milk Producer's Union (Dugdh Sangh) [edit]

(RAW MATERIAL) The main functions of the union are:

Procurement of milk from the village milking societies of the

district,

Arranging transportation of raw milk from the VDCS to the Milk

Union,

Providing input services to the producers like veterinary care,

artificial insemination services, cattle-feed sales, mineral mixture
sales, fodder and fodder seed sales,

Conducting training on cooperative development, animal

husbandry and dairying for milk producers and conducting skill

development and leadership development training for VDCS

staff and Management Committee members,

Providing management support to the VDCS along with

supervision of its activities.

Establish chilling centres and dairy plants for processing the milk
received from the villages.

Selling liquid milk and milk products within the district

Process milk into milk products as per the requirement of State

Marketing Federation.

Decide on the prices of milk to be paid to milk producers as well

on the prices of support services provided to members.

State Cooperative Milk Federation (Federation)[edit]

The main functions of the federation are as follows:

Marketing of milk and milk products processed/manufactured by

Milk Unions,

Establish a distribution network for marketing of milk and milk

products,

Arranging transportation of milk and milk products from the Milk

Unions to the market,

Creating and maintaining a brand for marketing of milk & milk

products,

Providing support services to the Milk Unions and members like

technical inputs, management support and advisory services,

Pooling surplus milk from the Milk Unions and supplying it to

deficit Milk Unions,

Establish feeder-balancing dairy plants for processing the

surplus milk of the Milk Unions,

Arranging for common purchase of raw materials used in

manufacture/packaging of milk products,

Decide on the prices of milk and milk products to be paid to Milk

Unions,

Decide on the products to be manufactured at Milk Unions and

capacity required for the same.

Conduct long-term milk production, procurement and processing

as well as marketing planning.

Arranging finance for the Milk Unions and providing them

technical know-how.

Designing and providing training in cooperative development

and technical and marketing functions.

Conflict resolution and keeping the entire structure intact.

Today, there are around 176 cooperative dairy unions formed by 125,000 dairy cooperative
societies, having a total membership of around 13 million farmers on the same pattern, who are
processing and marketing milk and milk products profitably, be it Amul in Gujarat or Verka in
Punjab, Vijaya in Andhra Pradesh, Milma in Kerala, Gokul in Maharashtra, Saras in Rajasthan or
a Nandini in Karnataka. This process has created more than 190 dairy processing plants spread
all over India with large investments by these farmers' institutions. These cooperatives today
collect approximately 23 million kg of milk per day and pay an aggregate amount of more than
Rs. 125 billion to the milk producers in a year.[citation needed]

Impact of the "Amul Model"[edit]

The effects of Operation Flood Programme are appraised by the World Bank in an evaluation
report. It has been proved that an investment of Rs. 20 billion over 20 years under Operation
Flood in the 1970s and 80s has contributed in increase of Indias milk production by 40 million
metric tonnes (MMT), i.e., from about 20 MMT pre-Operation Flood to more than 60 MMT at the
end of Operation Flood.
Thus, an incremental return of Rs. 400 billion annually have been generated by an investment of
Rs. 20 billion over 20 years. Indias milk production continues to increase and now stands at
90 MMT(as of 2012). Despite this fourfold increase in production, there has not been a drop in
the prices of milk during the period while production has continued to grow.
Due to this movement, the countrys milk production tripled between the years 1971 and 1996.
Similarly, the per capita milk consumption doubled from 111 gm per day in 1973 to 222 gm per
day in 2000.

The Amul brand[edit]

GCMMF (AMUL) has the largest distribution network for any FMCG company. It has nearly 50
sales offices spread all over the country, more than 5000 wholesale dealers and more than
700000 retailers.
Amul became the world's largest vegetarian cheese[15] and the largest pouched-milk brand.

AMUL is also the largest exporter of dairy products in the country. AMUL is available today in
over 40 countries of the world. AMUL is exporting a wide variety of products which include whole
and skimmed milk powder, cottage cheese (Paneer), UHT milk, clarified butter (Ghee) and
indigenous sweets.
The major markets are USA, West Indies, and countries in Africa, the Gulf Region,
and SAARC neighbours, Singapore, The Philippines, Thailand, Japan and China, and others
such as Mauritius, Australia, Hong Kong and a few South African countries. Its bid to enter the
Japanese market in 1994 did not succeed, but it plans to venture again. [16]
In September 2007, Amul emerged as the leading Indian brand according to a survey by
Synovate to find out Asia's top 1000 Brands.[17]
In 2013, Amul was named the Most Trusted brand in the Food and Beverages sector in The
Brand Trust Report, published by Trust Research Advisory.[18]

Products[edit]
Amul's product range includes milk powders, milk, butter, ghee, cheese, Masti
Dahi, Yoghurt, Buttermilk, chocolate, ice cream, cream, shrikhand, paneer, gulab jamuns,
flavoured milk, basundi, Amul Pro brand and others. Amul PRO is a recently launched brown
beverage just like bournevita and horlicks offering whey protein, DHA and essential nutrients. In
January 2006, Amul launched India's first sports drink, Stamina, which competes with Coca
Cola's Powerade and PepsiCo's Gatorade.[19]
Amul offers mithaimate which competes with Milkmaid by Nestle by offering more fat at lower
price.
In August 2007, Amul introduced Kool Koko, a chocolate milk brand extending its product offering
in the milk products segment. Other Amul brands are Amul Kool, a low-calorie thirst quenching
drink; Masti Butter Milk; and Kool Cafe, ready to drink coffee.
Amul's icecreams are made from milk fat and thus are icecreams in real sense of the word, while
many brands in India sell frozen desserts made from vegetable fat.
Amul's sugar-free Pro-Biotic Ice-cream won The International Dairy Federation Marketing Award
for 2007.[citation needed]

UHT products and impact[edit]

Over the years Amul has been witnessing strong growth in this portfolio,with the segment
growing at 53%,[20] as a result of growing consumer awareness and demand for good quality
milk,the urban population has especially been showing great interest in long life UHT products
like Amul Taaza,which are packed in Tetra Pak cartons,which undergoes UHT treatment to
remove all harmful microorganisms while retaining the nutrition in the milk.Today Amul sells
around 4-500,000 litres of UHT milk and other value added products per day and forecast this
demand to continue growing at 25%.The UHT products have enabled Amul to position itself as
the market leader in packaged milk segment by penetrating the deeper and vast markets by
maintaining long shelf life of milk,without the need of maintaining cold supply chains. [21]

Any Time Milk (ATM) Machine[edit]

Amul has installed a "Any Time Milk" machine dispenses a 300-ml pouch of fresh milk for Rs 10,
at Anand's Amul Dairy. As a first step, Amul plans to install six such ATMs in Anand itself.
According to Rahul Kumar, MD of Amul Dairy, Amul wants to add a whole range of dairy
products, which could be dispensed through these machines. [22]

Mascot[edit]

Since 1967,[23] Amul products' mascot has been the very recognisable "Amul baby" or Amul
girl (a chubby butter girl usually dressed in polka dotted dress) showing up on hoardings and
product wrappers with the tagline Utterly Butterly Delicious Amul. The mascot was first used for
Amul butter. In recent years in a second wave of ad campaign for Amul products, she has been
used for other products like ghee and milk.

Advertising[edit]

An Amul butter ad on Pakistan'sKargil War fiasco. The image shows the "Amul baby" between George
Fernandes and Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

In 1966, Amul hired Sylvester daCunha, then managing director of the advertising agency AS to
design an ad campaign for Amul Butter. daCunha designed a campaign as series of hoardings
with topical ads, relating to day-to-day issues.[24] It was popular and earned aGuinness world
record for the longest running ad campaign in the world. In the 1980s, cartoon artist Kumar
Morey and script writer Bharat Dabholkar had been involved with sketching the Amul ads; the
latter rejected the trend of using celebrities in advertisement campaigns.r credited chairman
Verghese Kurien with creating a free atmosphere that fostered the development of the ads. [25]
Despite encountering political pressure on several occasions, daCunha's agency has made it a
policy of not backing down. Some of the more controversial Amul ads include one commenting
on the Naxalite uprising in West Bengal, on the Indian Airlines employees strike, and one
depicting the Amul butter girl wearing a Gandhi cap.[24]
In 2013, Amul tweeted a picture featuring the Amul butter girl, implying that 'freedom of choice'
died in '2013', in opposition to the Supreme Court of India overruling the judgment of Delhi High
Court and criminalising homosexuality again.[26]
Amul hired DraftFCB+Ulka for the brands of Amul milk, chocolates, paneer, ghee, ice-cream.

In popular culture[edit]
The establishment of Amul is known as White Revolution.
The White Revolution inspired the notable Indian film-maker Shyam Benegal to base his
film Manthan (1976) on it. It starred Smita Patil, Girish Karnad, Naseeruddin Shah andAmrish
Puri. The film was financed by over five lakh rural farmers in Gujarat who contributed Rs 2 each
to its budget. Upon its release, these farmers went in truckloads to watch 'their' film, making it a
commercial success.[27][28] Manthan was chosen for the 1977 National Film Award for Best
Feature Film in Hindi.

References[edit]
1. Jump up^ http://www.amul.com/m/organisation
2. Jump up^ Alexander Fraser Laidlaw. Cooperatives and the
Poor. A development study prepared for the International

Cooperative Alliance and the Canadian International

Development Agency, 1977.
3. Jump up^ Amul The Taste of India. "Welcome to Amul The
Taste of India". Amul.com. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
4. Jump up^ The Amul Story General Management Review[dead
link]

5. Jump up^ indiadairy.com

6. Jump up^ Dasgupta, Manas (9 September 2012). "Kurien
strode like a titan across the bureaucratic barriers and
obstacles". The Hindu (Chennai, India). Retrieved 13
September 2012.
7. Jump up^ George, Shanti (1985). Operation flood: an
appraisal of current Indian dairy policy. Delhi: Oxford University
Press. ISBN 978-0-19-561679-8.
8. ^ Jump up to:a b c Heredia, Ruth (1997). The Amul India story.
New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill.
9. Jump up^ Suhrud, Tridip (8 April 2006). "The magic of
manthan". Tehelka. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
10. Jump up^ Thapar, Romila (2001). "Seminar, Issues 497
508". Seminar.
11. Jump up^ "Economic and political weekly, Volume 6, Part
4". Economic and Political Weekly 6. 1971.
12. Jump up^ The Cheese Industry in India. Chillibreeze.
13. Jump up^ "Amul to make paneer, ghee at NRI's dairy plant
near New Jersey". The Times of India.
14. ^ Jump up to:a b [1]
15. Jump up^ Economic Times

16. Jump up^ Amul hopes to flow into Japanese market

17. Jump
up^http://www.synovate.com/news/article/extra/20070824/Asia'
s%20Top%201000%20brands%20fact%20sheet.pdf
18. Jump up^ rediff.com; "India's top 20 brands: Amul is No. 1"
19. Jump up^ Amul ready to take on Pepsi, Coke in sports drink
segment
20. Jump up^ "AMUL upgrades processing through Tetra Pak's
high-speed lines". The Times Of India. 10 September 2013.
21. Jump up^ [2]
22. Jump up^ [3]
23. Jump up^ The Amul Mascot Story Amul's website
24. ^ Jump up to:a b Varma, Mini. "The moppet who put Amul on
India's breakfast table". Amul. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
25. Jump up^ Rao, Subha J. (15 December 2007). "Punch
guru". The Hindu (Chennai, India). Retrieved 2 February 2011.
26. Jump up^ "Brands peek out of the closet - The Times of
India". The Times Of India.
27. Jump up^ NDTV movies NDTV.
28. Jump up^ Shyam Benegal at ucla.net South Asia
Studies, University of California, Los Angeles(UCLA).

External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has
media related to Amul.

amul.com, Official website

irma.ac.in, History of Amul

amul.tv

thehindubusinessline.com

indiainfoline.com, "AMUL Most Trusted among Indias Food &

Beverage Brands"

[4],[5] UHT products and impact

Categories:

Cooperatives in India

Companies established in 1946

Companies based in Gujarat

Ice cream brands

Economy of Gujarat

Dairy products companies of India

Indian brands

1946 establishments in India

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