Punjab State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation Limited, also known as Milkfed, plans to launch its Verka brand of milk and milk products in a big way in the national capital. Milkfed already sells 30,000 litres of milk per day in Delhi and hopes to expand into the government sector, such as schools, childcare centres, and government-run hospitals.
“We see a huge scope in this sector. We have mooted a proposal before Delhi’s cooperation minister and we are hopeful of positive development on this front,” said a Milkfed officer not willing to be named, as according to him the proposal was at a “very premature stage”.
The Delhi government has reportedly asked Milkfed to approach it through the tendering process, as other milk-supply companies have, but the federation prefers to reach an agreement through rate negotiations. With the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in power in both Punjab and Delhi, the federation is optimistic about reaching an agreement.
With 7,000 milk collection centres linked to 11 district-level cooperative milk unions, Milkfed has a strong network throughout Punjab. However, in the national capital, it faces stiff competition from other strong brands such as Amul and Mother Dairy. Milkfed management believes that a drastic rate cut is not possible because the federation operates on a “no profit, no loss” basis, and factors such as milk being a perishable commodity and Delhi being approximately 250 kilometres from the state capital must be taken into account.
Milkfed processes 21 lakh litres of milk per day on average, and there is still enormous potential as dairy farmers in the state produce 210 litres of milk per day. “The daily quantities fluctuate, but the yearly average equals this.” “There is a massive surplus of milk because we only process 10% of what is available,” said the officer cited earlier.
