MARKET meltdown and economic crisis seem to be the buzzwords for most corporations around the world. But not for home-grown Amul cooperative. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which is built on Amul pattern, and its allied13 dairies, has reported a total turnover of close to Rs 10,000 crore.

The lion’s share towards the turnover has been contributed by four biggest district unions of Mehsana, Banaskantha, Sabarkantha and Anand. That does not mean the smaller unions like Baroda, Rajkot, the Panchmahals have not registered an impressive growth rate. The GCMMF registered a 28% growth to touch record turnover of Rs 6,705 crore in 2008-09 — an increase of nearly Rs 1,450 crore over the previous year. The unduplicated group turnover of GCMMF and its 13 dairy cooperatives touched Rs 10,000 crore, if local milk and milk products and cattlefeed business by district unions are also taken into account.

GCMMF-affiliated district union has farmer membership base of about 27 lakh through the network of 13,141 points. The Amul pattern is an integrated cooperative structure that procures, processes and markets milk and milk products. GCMMF markets liquid milk and milk products under the brandname Amul and Sagar while district unions procure, process and market milk in their respective local markets.

Mehsana District Co-op Milk Producers Union registered the highest turnover of Rs 1,750 crore for the fiscal 2008-09, up from Rs 1,485 crore in 2007-08. Banaskantha Union too reported turnover of Rs 1,550 crore, from 1,177 crore in 2007-08. Cattlefeed business contributed Rs 200 crore each for Mehsana and Banaskantha unions. Banaskantha Union and GCMMF chairman Parthibhai Bhatol said, ”We are set to expand cattlefeed facilities besides augmenting the dairy infrastructure. Banas Dairy is expected to maintain the same growth rate during the current fiscal.”

“Amul pattern, developed by Tribhovandas Patel and milkman Verghese Kurien, is rapidly growing despite the market turbulence that has taken toll on some of the largest corporate houses. In 2006-07, the unduplicated group turnover stood at about Rs 6,000 crore while GCMMF reported sales turnover of Rs 4,286 crore. In the recent past, district unions’ local business of liquid milk, milk products and cattlefeed has gone up considerably,” said a top GCMMF official. He added that the group turnover is likely to only increase in days to come as majority of district unions are expanding their activity base.

Kaira Union that kicked off cooperative movement in the dairy sector is soon going to launch cookies after the successful launch of bread and buns. Kaira Union registered sales turnover of Rs 1,350 crore for the fiscal 2008-09 against Rs 1,077 crore in 2007-08.

“In the last seven months, we installed at least one bulk cooler a day and intend to equip all our village societies with the same. We will be the first entity to have a bulk cooler at every procurement point,” Kaira Union MD Rahul Kumar said.

Baroda Union that markets Sugam brand of dairy products in Vadodara reported turnover of Rs 400 crore, up from Rs 340 crore in 2007-08. Baroda Union chairman Madhu Shrivastava stated that plans are afoot to launch drinking water and tomato sauce.

Surat Union that markets Sumul brand of dairy products in South Gujarat reported sales turnover of 775 crore in 2008-09, up by 10% from 700 crore in 2007-08.