Antivirus programme

The Gujarati entrepreneurial spirit makes many an opportunity out of the pandemic

- NANDINI OZA

THE GUJARAT Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation collects milk from some 36 lakh farmers twice a day like clockwork. Any interruption would make around two crore litres of milk go waste. It was a challenge in the months of the lockdown, but GCMMF, which owns the Amul brand, made sure that every cog in the machine worked without any glitch. “There were instructions from the Gujarat chief minister’s office that milk procurement had to continue,” said R.S. Sodhi, managing director of Amul, headquartered in Anand in central Gujarat. From coordinating with the authorities for permissions to ply tankers to teaching farmers’ families hygiene practices to connecting with them regularly on videoconferencing, arranging langars for the people in the supply chain and giving 20 to 30 per cent extra incentive to the labour staff, Amul did it all.

“During the lockdown, private players were not collecting milk. The government asked us to collect milk from non-members as well. We agreed, and as a result 40 to 50 lakh litres more of milk was collected daily,” said Sodhi. Collecting milk, however, was only half of the problem, as the lockdown had severely affected the supply chain, and the ice cream sales tanked owing to consumers’ concerns about the virus.

Amul wasted no time to shift the supply chain workforce in the ice cream segment to dairy products, and introduce products that instantly created a large customer base. “Normally it takes a long time to introduce a product,” said Sodhi. “However, in such a situation, decision-making and action become faster.”