Referring to India’s proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU), Amul, the iconic milk brand of the country’s largest dairy co-operative, Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), on Tuesday cautioned the Commerce Ministry to be careful while negotiating terms in the interest of the farmers of India, and to have a re-look at the proposed EU-India FTA.

Amul has strongly opposed providing any kind of advantage in import duty on certain dairy products and R. S. Sodhi, Managing Director of GCMMF, which markets Amul, wrote to the Union Minister of Commerce along these lines recently.

In a statement here, Amul said it is important to note that EU does not permit import of dairy products from India in the name of SPS (Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary) measures, saying that Indian milch animals are not maintained in accordance with EU standards and hence Indian dairy products are not safe for consumption.

Interestingly, the EU also subsidises its milk farmers by giving incentives on export of their dairy products, which makes their products cheaper than the cost. So, while the EU wants to export such subsidised dairy products to India viewing it as a large and growing market, it does not want to give Indian dairy products access to its own market, which has a large NRI population, he said.

The EU demands also reveal that it wants protection for cheeses such as Gouda, Feta and Emmenthal under Geographical Indication (GI) protection, meaning that Indian cheese producers cannot give such names to their cheese. At the same time, the EU wants to sell Indian ethnic products such as Paneer and Lassi in their own market without giving any similar protection to India.

It is also noteworthy that in areas where India is richer, for example in traditional knowledge, such as Ayurvedic medicine, and genetic resources, such as neem, the EU is refusing to take measures to stop biopiracy (i.e. protect biological resources by patenting them without paying royalties).

Essentially, Sodhi said, the EU is asking India to give more monopoly protection in areas (GIs) where it has more intellectual property. This will cost Indian consumers (who will have to pay higher prices) and Indian producers (who will no longer be able to clearly identify their products and so are highly likely to lose sales) who are already in a nascent stage of the agro food processing industry.

He said the EU is anticipating a huge market opportunity in India once the comprehensive FTA is ratified. India needs to be “extremely cautious” at this approach of the EU to ensure that the country’s interests are not compromised.

Sodhi requested the Ministry to take up the matter “very strongly” against this protection, especially when the majority of 80 million Indian farmers (many of whom are marginal and landless) are dependent on the milk business, rearing one or two cattle which provides for their daily livelihood.

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