Allaying fears of an economic slowdown, RS Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) which owns the brand Amul, has said there is no slowdown in the dairy industry which is growing at an average of 14 percent. Amul, the industry leader, was witnessing a double-digit growth in each of its segments with an average growth of 25 percent across segments.

“The company has grown overall 24-25% in the first five months of FY20 and has seen double-digit volume growth across categories including milk, cheese and ice cream. The growth in the ice cream segment alone may be more than 20%,” he said. “For the last ten years Amul has been growing at the rate of 18percent to 19 percent. With rising disposable incomes, consumers are spending more on protein and fat rich diet including dairy products. As far as dairy industry is concerned I don’t see any slowdown.”
He expected the GCMMF revenue to rise from Rs 33,000 crore last year to around Rs 40, 000 crore this year. As for the Amul brands, against Rs 42,000 crore last year, he expects the revenues to touch Rs 52,000 crore in FY 20.

He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the ‘FICCI Foodworld India 2019 - Driving Innovation in Food Processing Sector’, jointly organized by FICCI with the ministry of food processing industries earlier this week in Mumbai.

Speaking on the increasing price of milk and milk products, he clarified that the amount paid to the farmer had been declining by the year. Further, in near future, “I do not foresee any increase in the milk prices though there may be a very small increase in [prices of other] products.”

Sodhi said that the company was focusing on fresh products, especially, Indian sweets, as it is a large market. “We already have a few products but we want to get into the fresh local sweets market which will have a shelf life of at least 40 days. We plan to set up plants in various places including Mumbai, Surat, Delhi and Kolkata to offer local delicacies. Mumbai’s sweets market itself is worth Rs 1,700 crore. You can understand the scope of this business. We will invest in setting up the facilities but it will not be very significant.”