Amul plans overseas foray

From the cradle of India’s White Revolution, the Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union Limited, also known as Amul Dairy, will now take the giant step to enter the US and European markets. Amul is all set to take the ‘Taste of India’ to the doorsteps of ethnic South Asians by becoming the country’s first dairy cooperative to set up manufacturing base outside India. The decision was taken during the 65th annual general meeting held on Saturday. Amul will initially manufacture ghee and paneer. The dairy co-operative union will finalise the exact location for the proposed facilities within a month. While California, Virginia and Wisconsin are considered to be milk rich states of US, the concentration of Indian populace, especially Gujaratis, is more in states like New Jersey and New York. The urge for ghee among ethnic Indians is satisfied in US largely by Canada-based players like Nanak and Deep brands as there are not many players present in the space there. The dairy union may use an existing dairy plant to manufacture the products for which it will invest nearly Rs 35 crore. Initially, it has planned to set up facilities to manufacture 10 tonne ghee per day and five tonne paneer per day. Amul Dairy, which clocked a turnover of Rs 2,111 crore — an increase of 25% year-on-year manages six plants across the country.