Amul is an acronym of Anand Milk Union
Limited. Today, it is India’s leading Milk and Milk Products brand. It functions under
the Gujarat Milk Marketing Federation and is based out of Anand,
Gujrat. It is controlled by more
than 4.50 lakh milk producers.
It clocked milk procurement,
of 173 crore kg and a turnover
of Rs. 12,880 crores in FY 2023-24. It has an exhaustive product range which includes Milk, Butter, Bread
Spreads, Cheese, Dahi, Cheese Sauce, Beverage Range, Organic Products, Protein
Products, Ice Creams, Ghee, Milk Powder, Chocolates, Fresh Cream, Mithai Mate,
Frozen Snacks, Bakery Products, Peanut Spread, Puffs, Roti Softener, Sour Cream
and Cattle Feed. It also has a substantial presence overseas.
So, how did
this vast entity come into being?
This
organisation was founded under the leadership of Tribhuvandas Kishibhai Patel on December 19, 1946 as a response to the
exploitation of small dairy farmers by traders and agents. At that time, milk
prices were arbitrarily determined, giving Polson, a leading dairy
products company owned by one Pestonjee Eduljee,
an effective monopoly in the milk collection from Kaira and its
subsequent supply to Mumbai.
Frustrated
with trade practices which they perceived as unfair, the farmers of Kaira, led
by Tribhuvandas Patel, approached Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who
advised them to form a cooperative. If they did so, they would be able to
directly supply their milk to the Bombay Milk Scheme instead of working for
Polson. Sardar Patel sent Morarji Desai to aid in organising the
farmers.
Following a
meeting in Chaklasi, the farmers formed the cooperative and resolved not
to provide Polson with any more milk. Milk collection was then decentralized,
as most producers were marginal farmers who could deliver at the most, 1–2
litres of milk per day. Cooperatives were formed for each village. Due to
this, by June 1948, AMUL transformed into The Kheda District co- operative Milk Producers Union Limited
(KDCMPUL) and started
pasteurizing milk for the Bombay Milk Scheme.
Tribhuvandas
Patel served as the cooperative’s chairman until his retirement in the 1970's.
In 1949, he hired Verghese Kurien, as the general manager to lead the
technical and marketing efforts of the cooperative. Kurien who is credited with
the success of Amul's marketing, briefly became the chairman of Amul following
Patel's death in 1994.
Amul went on
to spur India’s White Revolution, making the country the world's largest producer of milk and
milk products. It has since, also ventured into overseas markets. Amul is
recognised as one of the best cooperative societies the world over.
On 31
October 1964, the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri visited Anand
to inaugurate Amul's cattle feed factory. While there, he happened to interact with
the farmers there to understand how their cooperative functioned. He was so impressed, that after returning
to Delhi, he set in motion the creation of an organization, the National
Dairy Development Board (NDDB), to replicate the Kaira cooperative in other
parts of India.
Amul was
further developed through the efforts of Verghese Kurien and H M Dalaya. With
many technological breakthroughs, like Dalaya's innovation of making "skim
milk powder" from buffalo milk, they revolutionized India's organized dairy
industry.
Amul has also
won accolades for its iconic advertising campaigns. In 1966, it launched a campaign which featured the “Amul
Girl” for the first time. Created by renowned artist Fernandes and Sylvester
daCunha, the girl in the cartoon looks chubby-cheeked and mischievous holding a
piece of bread with butter on top. The objective of this campaign was to
captivate the audience's attention through sarcastic, yet, message driven
cartoons to advertise their product.
The cartoon was also a direct response to their competitor, Polson's mascot. As seen in the accompanying picture, the brand logo of Polson Diary featured a young girl buttering a toast. Even till that time, Polson was a household name and had a monopoly on the Indian retail dairy products market.
At first,
Amul's butter which was made from fresh cream couldn't win people’s hearts, as they
were more used to Polson's sour-cream butter. However, later on Amul made
several changes to its products to enhance its taste and eventually took over
as the market leader.
Polson, on the
other hand, eventually shut down its dairy business and has also disappeared
from public memory, culminating in the success of the revolution which began as a result of its monopoly.
The Amul Girl
campaign won a Guinness
World Record of being the
longest ever ad campaign to ever run anywhere in the world. And, while it
continues to run even now, it has had its fair share of controversies too. So
many, that there’s enough content available to write another story.
Amul, with its
revolutionary beginnings went on to and continues to be an inseparable part of
innumerable Indians lives. Many of us have several memories related to using Amul
products. What about you?
If you have
any special memories of using Amul products, do share them in the comments
section below. We’d love to hear about them!
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