Amul

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
This article is about the cooperative. For the ancient city of Āmul along the Oxus, see Türkmenabat.
For the city in Iran, see Amol.

Amul

Type Company

Industry Dairy/fast-moving consumer good (FMCG)

Founded 1946; 73 years ago

Founder Tribhuvandas Patel

Headquarters Anand, Gujarat, India

Area served worldwide

Key people Rupinder Singh Sodhi (Managing Director)[1]

Revenue ₹38,000 crore(US$5.5 billion) (2018-19 [2])

Number of employees 752 (Marketing Arm)

3.6 million (milk producing members)[2]

Website www.amul.com/
The Amul plant at Popati Nagar, Anand, Gujarat showing the milk silos

Anand Milk Union Limited or Amul is an Indian dairy company,

based at Anand in the state of Gujarat.[3]
Formed in 1948, it is a cooperative 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.[4]
Amul spurred India's White Revolution, which made the country the world's largest producer of milk
and milk products.[5]
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 and led it until his death. He hired Dr. Verghese Kurien three years
after the white revolution. He convinced Dr. Kurien to stay and help with the mission.[citation needed]
Kurien, founder-chairman of the GCMMF for more than 30 years (1973–2006), is credited with the
success of Amul's marketing.[6] Amul has become the largest food brand in India and has ventured
into markets overseas.[citation needed]

Contents

History[edit]
Amul-cooperative 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. The government had given monopoly rights to Polson to collect milk from
Kaira and supply it to Bombay city.[7][8]
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 (Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union) and supply milk directly to the
Bombay Milk Scheme instead of Polson (who did the same but gave them low prices).[9] 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.[8] 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.[10] By June 1948, the KDCMPUL had
started pasteurizing milk for the 'Bombay Milk Scheme'. Under the selfless leadership
of Tribhuvandas Patel, in 1973, Amul celebrated its 25th Anniversary with Morarji Desai, Maniben
Patel and Verghese Kurien.
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,[11] 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.
The trio's (T. K. Patel, Kurien and Dalaya's) success at the cooperative's dairy soon spread to
Anand's neighbourhood in Gujarat. Within a short span, five unions in other districts – Mehsana,
Banaskantha, Baroda, Sabarkantha and Surat – were set up, following the approach sometimes
described as the Anand pattern.[8]
In 1970, initiated White Revolution of India, as it help create, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing
Federation Ltd., which now overlooks Amul, in 1973,[12] and today, it is the second best dairy in
India.[12] To combine forces and expand the market while saving on advertising and avoid competing
against each other, the GCMMF, an apex marketing body of these district cooperatives, was set up
in 1973. The Kaira Union, which had the brand name Amul with it since 1955, transferred it to
GCMMF.[13]
In 1999, it was awarded the "Best of all" Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award.[14]
Technological developments at Amul have subsequently spread to other parts of India.
The GCMMF is the largest food products marketing organisation of India. It is the apex organisation
of the dairy cooperatives of Gujarat. It is the exclusive marketing organisation for products under the
brand name of Amul and Sagar. Over the last five and a half decades, dairy cooperatives in Gujarat
have created an economic network that links more than 3.1 million village milk products with millions
of consumers in India. Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.
Importance is also important for industries.
On September 30, 2018, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated Amul's chocolate plant in
Mogar, Anand near their headquarters.[15]

UHT products and impact[edit]

Over the years Amul has been witnessing growth in this portfolio, with the segment growing at
53%,[16] long life UHT products for urban populations, like Amul Taaza, which are packed in Tetra
Pak cartons, which undergo UHT treatment to remove all harmful micro-organisms while retaining
the nutrition in the milk. Amul sells around 4,00,000-5,00,000 litres of UHT milk and other value
added products per day and forecasts this demand to continue growing at 25%. The UHT products
have enabled Amul to position itself as the market leader in packaged milk segment without the
need of maintaining cold supply chains.[17]

Advertising[edit]
In 1966, Amul hired Sylvester da Cunha, the managing director of the advertising agency as to
design an ad campaign for Amul Butter. daCunha designed a campaign as series of hoardings with
topical ads, relating to day-to-day issues.[18] It was popular and earned a Guinness world record for
the longest running ad campaign in the world. In the 1980s, cartoon artist Kumar Morey and script
writer Bharat Dabholkar had been involved with sketching the Amul ads; the latter rejected the trend
of using celebrities in advertisement campaigns. Dabholkar credited chairman Verghese Kurien with
creating a free atmosphere that fostered the development of the ads.[19]
Despite encountering political pressure on several occasions, daCunha's agency has made it a
policy of not backing down. Some of the more controversial Amul ads include one commenting on
the Naxalite uprising in West Bengal, on the Indian Airlines employees strike, and one depicting the
Amul girl wearing a Gandhi cap.[18]
In 2013, Amul tweeted a picture featuring the Amul butter girl, implying that 'freedom of choice' died
in '2013', in opposition to the Supreme Court of India overruling the judgment of Delhi High Court
and criminalising homosexuality again.[20]
On 17 October 2016, Amul butter girl celebrated 50 years when she first appeared in the topical ad
titled "Thoroughbread". The ad showed a jockey holding a slice of bread during the horse race
season in 1966. The impish Amul girl had appeared for the first time even before that, with Eustace
Fernandez showed her offering bedtime prayers with a wink and a lick of lips, saying "Give us this
day our daily bread: with Amul butter".[21]
Their Ad on Aagey Badhta Hai India had an excellent response from the audience. It basically spoke
about the how their Milk is seen a household product with catchy tune associated to it. It has close to
2 Million views on YouTube. [22].
Sponsorship[edit]
Amul is sponsoring Afghanistan in ICC world cup 2019

In popular culture[edit]
The establishment of Amul is known as White Revolution.
The White Revolution inspired the notable Indian film-maker Shyam Benegal to base his
film Manthan (1976) on it. The film was financed by over five lakh (half a million) rural farmers in
Gujarat who contributed Rs 2 each to its budget. Upon its release, these farmers went in truckloads
to watch 'their' film, making it a commercial success.[23][24] Manthanwas chosen for the 1977 National
Film Award for Best Feature Film in Hindi.