No competition with Nandini; to sell milk, curd online : Amul chief

NEW DELHI: Caught in the political row over market place battle with popular Karnataka brand Nandini, head of the Gujarat-based cooperative selling Amul brand on Tuesday said it will sell milk and curd only through online channels in Bengaluru and there is no competition with Nandini milk which is much cheaper due to the state government subsidy.

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) MD Jayen Mehta asserted that there cannot be “Amul versus Nandini” scenario as both are co-operatives owned by farmers.

GCMMF will sell its Amul products only through e-commerce platforms and there is absolutely no plan of full-fledge entry into Karnataka, he said.

According to him, Amul has been selling fresh milk in two districts of north Karnataka since 2015-16, but “there is no competition” as Karnataka Milk Federation’s (KMF) Nandini milk is much cheaper than Amul because of the subsidy being provided by the state government.

Amul milk is Rs 54 per litre while Nandini milk is Rs 39 per litre only as the state government provides subsidy to farmers, he added.

A political row has erupted after Amul’s announcement on April 5 that it will supply milk and curd in Bengaluru.

Opposition parties - Congress and the JD(S) - have trained their guns at the ruling BJP in the state when the assembly elections are just a month away, expressing fears that the Rs 21,000 crore-Nandini brand, could be merged with Amul.

“There is no question of merger. Both are cooperatives. Amul is owned by farmers of Gujarat and Nandini is owned by farmers of Karnataka. Both of us have been working together not from now but since decades to build India’s cooperative dairy industry. This has made India the largest producer of milk in the world,” Mehta said.

Mehta, who is currently the MD in charge of GCMMF, emphasised that “there is no threat to Nandini from Amul and vice-versa. Both the co-operatives are working in co-ordination and co-operation with each other”.

About the launch of its products in Karnataka, Mehta said the co-operative has been selling fresh milk in Huballi and Dharwad in North Karnataka from 2015-16, although its volume is only 8,000-10,000 litres per day as against around 1.30 lakh litres of milk per day is sold by Nandini in these two districts.