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The beleaguered Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS) is making a surprise turnaround for 2012-13, showing a working surplus for the first time in many years.
The milk scheme, started in 1959, used to be the primary supplier of milk in Delhi before Mother Dairy came in 1974. It is expected to record an operational surplus of Rs 8-9 crore in 2012-13.
"The exact final figure will be known once full accounting has been done. But as of now, the scenario looks quite promising," B S Beniwal, DMS General Manager, told Business Standard.
In 2011-12, DMS had an operational deficit of around Rs 28.26 crore, while it stood at around Rs 8.99 crore in the previous financial year and Rs 2.15 crore a year before that.
If things go well, officials in DMS are confident that they would be able to sustain the surplus in 2013-14 as well.
"In the last few years, we have managed to bring all round efficiency in DMS, as a result of which the losses have come down and there is an operational surplus," Beniwal said.
Beniwal said the scheme had adopted several measures through which efficiency had improved.
"Incidents of theft, pilferage, etc, have come down in DMS, while we have also managed to avail all the tax deductions and rebates available to DMS from the government agencies, strengthened the milk procurement system and improved the overall work culture in the scheme. All of this has borne fruit," he said.
The scheme's cumulative losses, however, continue to remain high. These stood at Rs 83.66 crore as on March 31, 2012, Rs 81.43 crore a year before that, and Rs 78.32 crore at the end of 2009-10.
"Cumulative losses will take time to come down, as these have been accumulating since the last 20 years. But yes, a beginning has been made, which shows that DMS can be run in a profitable manner," Beniwal said.
The turnaround came even as the government continued its efforts to corporatise DMS, senior officials said.
Recently, Minister of State for Agriculture, Sundar Das Mahant, said in Parliament that the government had received an 'in-principle' approval from the Cabinet to corporatise DMS by giving it the freedom to make strategic decisions to ensure that it was financially viable.
Officials in the know said a process was on to appoint a second consultant to advise the government on the corporatisation process, after an earlier report by another consultant did not find favour with the finance ministry.
Against the popular perception that the DMS now supplies milk to government employees, agencies, etc, officials said the bulk of the milk is sold to retail customers. "Most of its sales are made directly to consumers, with a very small proportion distributed to colleges and other institutions in bulk," a senior official said.
DMS has milk production and packaging capacity of 0.5 million litres per day, besides a network of 1,298 outlets in the National Capital Region (NCR). Of this, only 15 are in government buildings and 127 in institutions.
The government-owned dairy unit has 800 employees, but the milk production is only about 0.27 million litres per day.
Last year, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand, had shown interest in taking over DMS operations. Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar had said the decision on the proposal would be taken after the Cabinet nod for corporatisation of DMS. The Federation was interested in DMS, since it would help increase Amul's presence in the NCR.
Delhi is one of the largest markets for Amul, with daily sales of 2.4 million litres.
