Amul dumping milk: West Bengal

For West Bengal, Gujarat milk turns sour as Kolkata's lucrative milk market becomes the battling ground for these states.

The Rs 3,000 crore Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) has been accused of dumping milk in West Bengal by Anisur Rahman, animal resource development minister, West Bengal.

In a statement made at Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industries (BCCI), the minister has alleged that the milk co-operative has adopted unethical practices.

"Two major issues are involved, firstly, the federation is not sourcing the required amount of milk locally. Currently, the federation packages over 1.5 lakh litres of milk in West Bengal of which at least 50 per cent should have been sourced locally. Secondly, the federation is packaging milk in West Bengal beyond the permissible limits." Subesh Das, secretary, Animal Husbandary, told Business Standard on Monday.

According to West Bengal government sources, the federation has entered the markets of West Bengal with a license of packaging 50,000 litres of milk per day.

However, on request, the state government has enhanced the capacitiy for packaging up to 80,000 litres of milk per day, but the federation is packaging over 1.5 litres of milk, which is beyond the permissiable limits set by the government.

"We source 80 per cent of the from West Bengal as we are committed to the farmers of West Bengal. It is economically not viable to source milk from Gujarat. However, during summers we have to source milk from outside West Bengal because of the scarcity of milk in the state," said Sodhi, chief general manager, GCMMF.

The co-operative gaint entered the Kolkata market through Kaira District Co-opertaive Milk Producers' Union Ltd, the oldest and largest milk producing union of GCMMF with its Amul brand in December last year and has already captured a sizable portion of Kolkata's milk market.

The federation sells over 2 lakh litres of milk in Kolkata, ahead of Metro Dairy and second to Mother Dairy, which sells around 3 lakh litres per day.

"Kolkata has been instant success for us because of the better quality of milk. We source fresh milk, while Mother Dairy sources milk powder from outside the state.

The local milk federations in West Bengal are happy with Amul's entry in Kolkata market as we provided the security of sourcing milk from them," said Sodhi.

When asked if the federation is packaging milk beyond the permissible limits, Sodhi said, "We are not aware if we are packaging is beyond the permissible limits."

According to industry sources, Kolkata has a consumption capacity of 20 lakh litres of milk per day. However, Mother Dairy, Metro Dairy along with Amul, all put together, caters to around 8 lakh litres per day.

When asked about the competition with Mother Dairy, Sodhi said, "In India urban milk demand is estimated to be around 48,000 crore litres, while packaged milk caters to the demand of 12,000 crore litres only, so there is tremendous scope for every body to expand their market size."