Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd, which owns the Amul brand, has expressed its willingness to acquire the Delhi Milk Scheme (DMS).
DMS, under the Ministry of Agriculture, is a loss making entity and has about 5 per cent share in the pouched milk segment in the national Capital.
“We are making a proposal to the Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to take over the DMS operations,” said Vipul Chaudhary, Chairman, GCMMF.
Chaudhary recently took over as the Chairman of GCMMF. He was speaking after launching Amul’s newest product - Moti, the ultra-high temperature (UHT) treated milk in aseptic poly packs in New Delhi.
Launched in 1959 with an objective to provide milk for Delhi citizens, DMS has been running into losses for the past several years. Industry sources said DMS currently sells around 3 lakh litres in pouches in Delhi. The total market for pouched milk in Delhi is estimated at 50 lakh litres, where Amul sells about 22 lakh litres.
DMS has around 350 to 400 milk vending booths across Delhi and operates dairy plant with a processing capacity of 6 lakh litres per day. The acquisition of DMS will augment Amul’s direct presence in Delhi and also expand its processing capacity.
Delhi is the largest market for Amul, where it has grown its pouched milk sales to around 22 lakh litres per day from around 25,000 litres about six years ago, said R.S.Sodhi, Managing Director, GCMMF.
Amul has a processing capacity of 12 lakh litres per day in Delhi, while it expects to add capacity of another 50 lpd as it its under process of setting up two dairies in Delhi and Rohtak.