Amid Karnataka Controversy, Amul Plans to Set up 1st International Plant in Sri Lanka

A delegation of top officials from the cooperative, led by Amul's managing director Jayen Mehta, has visited Sri Lanka twice this year. According to a top cooperative official, Mehta visited the bordering country in January and March while government-level talks were ongoing.

According to the official, Amul has been assigned to set up a facility and increase milk production in Sri Lanka due to its successful operation, branding, and ground level network. According to the official, the project is now at an advanced level. Amul currently operates over 2,400 collection facilities across 13 Indian states and distributes milk products to 50 countries. "We are surveying options there," said Amul MD Mehta.

Nandini and Amul, two farmer-owned cooperatives in Karnataka, have been embroiled in a controversy since Union Home Minister Amit Shah called for "cooperation" between the Gujarat-based cooperative and the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) in December, prompting the state opposition to accuse it of an attempt to undermine local identity. However, on April 5, Amul announced its entry into the Bengaluru fresh dairy market with milk and curd.

Sri Lanka Agriculture Minister Mahinda Amaraweera attended the Global Conference on the International Year of Millet in New Delhi last month. He also went to Mother Dairy's plant. According to a statement issued by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Agriculture, Amaraweera stated that the Indian government has expressed its willingness to offer high-yielding dairy cattle to Sri Lanka.

"Due to the previous year's decline in the dairy industry in Sri Lanka, the dairy and dairy products industry decreased by nearly 19%. In particular, since the ban on chemical fertilizers was imposed in 2021, animal feed production has decreased," said the statement, which is published on the ministry's website.

In a statement issued in December of last year, Sri Lanka President Ranil Wickremesinghe's office stated that a committee comprised of representatives from the public and private sectors of Sri Lanka had been appointed to collaborate with the multi-disciplinary team of India's National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) "to prepare a short, medium, and long-term plan to increase local milk production and reduce the country's reliance on imported milk powder."

"Accordingly, India's NDDB and the Indian Amul Milk Company have taken steps to provide the necessary technical support for the production of liquid milk in Sri Lanka, and a preliminary discussion in this regard was held at the Presidential Secretariat," the statement continued.