Amul
 |
|
| Cooperative | |
| Industry | Dairy/FMCG |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Headquarters | Anand, India |
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Key people
|
Tribhuvandas Patel, Chairman, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd. (GCMMF) |
| Products | See complete products listing |
| Revenue |
 US$3.4 billion (2014–15)
|
|
Number of employees
|
750 employees of Marketing Arm & 3.6 million milk producer members |
| Parent | GCMMF [1] |
| Website | www.amul.com |
Amul is an Indian dairy cooperative, based at Anand in the state of Gujarat, India.
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 3.6 million milk producers in Gujarat.
The white revolution was spearheaded by Tribhuvandas Patel under the guidance of Sardar Patel. As a result, Kaira District Milk Union Limited was born in 1946. Tribhuvandas became the founding chairman of the organization which he led till his last day of his life. He hired Dr. Kurien three years after the white revolution. He convinced Dr.Kurien to stay and help with the mission rest was history in the dairying industry.
Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of milk and milk products. 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 (1973–2006), is credited with the success of Amul.
Amul-coperative registered on 14 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 mikka and supply it to Bombay city.
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). 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. Milk collection was decentralized, as most producers were marginal farmers who could deliver, at most, 1–2 litres of milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each village, too.
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, led to the first modern dairy of the cooperative at Anand, which would compete against established players in the market. Kurien's brother-in-law K.M. Philip sensitized Kurien to the needs of attending to the finer points of marketing, including the creation and popularization of a brand. This led to the search for an attractive brand name. In a brainstorming session, a chemist who worked in the dairy laboratory suggested Amul, which came from the Sanskrit word "amulya", which means "priceless" and "denoted and symbolised the pride of swadeshi production."
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