[faustus77]

RIP Dr.Kurien.
Before Amul came on the scene milk used to be in short supply.Every family wanting milk supplied by Aarey dairy(Bombay) was issued a ration card which entitled the family to buy x no of litres(depending on the size of the family).If you were a few minutes late in reaching the milk booth the stock used to get over and you were left high and dry.
Also quite frequently the truck supplying milk would not come and the neighborhood milkman would add more water to his stock of milk as well as jack up the prices.
If there is any Indian deserving the Bharat Ratna it is him for making our lives easier.

PS:Just a wee bit off topic.Dr.M.S.Swaminathan was the father of green revolution who changed the quantum of food availability like Dr.Kurien did for milk.Unfortunately he shunned the limelight and not many people have heard of him.

[RoadTiger]

In this world of crumbling ideals and spineless leaders, here was a man of great will and noble intent, rising above the odds to deliver a great institution called 'Amul' that still upholds the model of truly acting in the best interests of all its stakeholders - be it delivering value and great quality products to consumers or ensuring fair prices to its suppliers (the folks who supply milk).

While on the topic, Amul is one of the few large ice-cream manufacturers that still sells pure, milk-based ice-creams and not 'frozen dessert' - which is basically a cocktail of hydrogenated fat, oils and other sundry items. (Read more at http://articles.economictimes.indiat...ers-cream-bell) Amul is a brand that has stayed committed to delivering products of purity and high quality at unbeatable value to its consumers.

I have seen a disheartening trend of supermarkets and stores stocking exclusively MNC dairy products, simply because they offer much fatter margins (because they carry invariably higher MRP prices than Amul). I have made it a point to demand them to stock Amul products, too.

The tribute I can offer - in my own small way - to the great man is to remain loyal to the institution he created and to my favourite childhood dairy brand - Amul !

[sgiitk]

I still remember my schooldays when the production and sale of milk products like Khoya, Paneer, and milk sweets like rosogolla, etc. used to be banned in summer to conserve milk.

[rkg]

The contribution of Dr Kurien can not be measured in simple terms. In terms of present day cross commercialization, Dr Kurien's contribution is worth billions of dollars.

To give an Idea about the co-op's

Indian Dairy cooperatives operate in

- 346 districts

- covering 1,40,227 village societies

- with around 14 million farmer members,

- of which 4 million are women as on March 2010(NDDB)

Livestock sector alone provides employment to approximately 22.45 millions i.e.; 5.8 percent of the total workforce in the country.

Livestock is the only sector of the economy which has consistently shown positive growth in the last three decades even during the periods of drought.

Milk is the largest agricultural commodity at Rs 2,28,809 crore, higher than Rice at Rs 1,35,307 crore.

Imagine almost 70 % of it goes to farmers with resultant benifits of rural employement, reducing urban migration etc etc.


Can we calculate to actual economic benifit from this?

Most of the dairy farmers are small, marginal, landless farmers who own 1 or 2 animals.

The increase in milk production is not due to increase in per capita milk per animal, instead it is due to more number of animals.

What Co-operative did is to provide a secure market and price to farmer

In dairy co-operatives farmer gets 75-80 per cent of the consumer price of milk

In private dairies operating today, this is less than 40% ( consumer price of milk is Rs 35/litre and farmer gets Rs 16-18 per litre. Keep in mind the milk supplied by farmer is having fat more than 3%, where as consumer gets 3% toned milk)

Entire Operation flood programme is not funded by GOI.

Neither the growth of Dairy in this country is given any subsidies till now.

Co-operative eliminated middleman. But our greedy politicians and bureaucrats are encouraging the same middleman now, by destroying the 50 years of hard work of Kurien and Co ( HM Dalaya, Tribhuvandas patel, Maniben Patel - daughter of Sardar Patel)

[ajmat]

I remember meeting him in Anand in 1997. He narrated his story with passion and he had amazing energy.

He was down for my cousins wedding in Jan. Old age had taken his toll

[WindRide]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

...Amul is a brand that has stayed committed to delivering products of purity and high quality at unbeatable value to its consumers....

I heard the great man was a staunch communist/socialist? Amul truly is the result of the "Service before self" creed.

Now with the visionary gone, it remains to be seen how long the venerable and much-loved brand will hold out against 'modern' influences.

[amitwlele]

Originally Posted by WindRide

I heard the great man was a staunch communist/socialist? Amul truly is the result of the "Service before self" creed.

Now with the visionary gone, it remains to be seen how long the venerable and much-loved brand will hold out against 'modern' influences.

Below article articulates in his own words what makes the 'Amul' brand. So now it all depends on how the the quality, VFM, availability and service is maintained.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/16329864.cms

[rkg]

Business Today analysis about AMUL

"Had Verghese Kurien been a private equity investor, he would have retired as one of the richest men in India. Operation Flood, a movement he launched in 1970 as Chairman of National Dairy Development Board to boost milk production in the country, cost a mere Rs 1,772 crore in investment over its three phases (1970-1996). The net return into the rural economy has been estimated at a whopping Rs 24,000 crore per annum over a period of 10 years, or a total of Rs 2.4 trillion (one trillion equals 100,000 crore) in all. In the process, it helped create a network of milk cooperatives that comprised 22 federations and apex milk unions and 9.3 million dairy farmers in 22 states, reaching out to four metros, more than 100 Class 1 cities, and other major towns and urban areas across the country

http://businesstoday.intoday.in/stor.../1/187916.html

[Daewood]

Originally Posted by WindRide

Now with the visionary gone, it remains to be seen how long the venerable and much-loved brand will hold out against 'modern' influences.

The institution he built is quite strong. Proof of that is, AMUL has grown steadily for the past 6 years even though he quit the institution in 2006, due to differences with the other members of the board. Infact Sales turnover has more than doubled from around $1 billion in 2006 to almost $2.5 billion last year.

[pjbiju]

Originally Posted by RoadTiger

...

I have seen a disheartening trend of supermarkets and stores stocking exclusively MNC dairy products, simply because they offer much fatter margins (because they carry invariably higher MRP prices than Amul). I have made it a point to demand them to stock Amul products, too.
...

This is because Amul is the only brand that demands payment in advance from these supermarkets and the supermarkets have to comply with that demand of Amul, so that they can cater to the demands of people like you and me who ask for Amul products. All the others are willing to give their products on credit (and of course then price it higher).

India's loss. There are many other milk co-operatives that work in various states following the Amul model (MILMA in Kerala is one such). If Amul is the best example of co-operative movement, the worst example is the Sugar-cane co-operatives of Maharashtra. Every one of them are controlled by the politicians and the farmers are at the mercy of these people. I hope with this visionary now gone, Amul does not fall into the clutches of greedy management/politicians.

Also AMUL is one of the few true Indian brands that MNCs have not been able to buy out, kill or even dent. Truly power to the people.

Originally Posted by Daewood

The institution he built is quite strong. Proof of that is, AMUL has grown steadily for the past 6 years even though he quit the institution in 2006, due to differences with the other members of the board. Infact Sales turnover has more than doubled from around $1 billion in 2006 to almost $2.5 billion last year.

Amul's will remain a success story when 75-80% of the profit that Amul makes is continued to be passed on to the farmers. I wish there was somebody like Dr. Verghese in the agriculture sector too.

[anand_lukose]

When I came to know of his passing away, I did not do anything else for the next meal. Bought bread and Amul better. This combination made me go back in time reminiscing those days as a toddler... And then to realize that its because of inspiring people like Dr Kurien had even more bread and butter !!!

RIP Dr Verghese Kurian !!

[Mistakenguy]

Dr. Kurien has been the biggest inspiration to me. There have been too many incidences in my life which connected me to him, directly or indirectly. After my B.Tech, ended up in the Institute of Rural Management, Anand(founded by Dr. Kurien) to do my post graduation and went on to join GCMMF(again founded by Dr. K) , which is the co-operative body which markets the brand Amul. Did my interns with National Dairy Development Board, yet another great institution set up by him. Stayed in the Indian Immunologicals Limited (IIL) campus in Hyderabad for two months (again established by him).


Not a single day during the two years I spent at IRMA went on without a mention of Dr. Kurien(fondly called as "Daddu" by us IRMAns), but couldn't meet him, since he had become sick by then and was undergoing treatment in Mumbai and Chennai.

Towards the end of the two years in campus, was lucky to meet him personally in the Amul auditorium, from where his final journey started. Though physically weak and his memory failing him a bit, his voice thundered when he gave us his message for a successful life. " There are three things needed to be a successful professional and a good human being. They are " Integrity, Integrity and Integrity"".

These words will always remain in my mind and I hope to lead a life in the path he led me and many many more into.

[Ford5]

Dr. Kurien hated Milk. "I hate milk, I hate the taste of it" was uttered in an interview on NDTV last year. Funny how a man who hated milk, milked out something so important in our daily lives !

Slight OT but still relevant: AMUL seems like an Ad company today, more than a co-operative dairy. Ad budgets have been hiked only for the delight of a few urban readers looking at hoardings and reading a few select newspapers.

End result = What costed Rupees 18 last year same time is Rs. 30 now for 100 gms. And mind you it was Rs 18 for a period of almost 2 years ! It's sort of weird because the AMUL girl is seen lampooning everybody. The wittiness is gone. It was better off when those ad's came out once a month.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by rkg

Business Today analysis about AMUL

"Had Verghese Kurien been a private equity investor, he would have retired as one of the richest men in India. Operation Flood, a movement he launched in 1970 as Chairman of National Dairy Development Board to boost milk production in the country, cost a mere Rs 1,772 crore in investment over its three phases (1970-1996). The net return into the rural economy has been estimated at a whopping Rs 24,000 crore per annum over a period of 10 years, or a total of Rs 2.4 trillion (one trillion equals 100,000 crore) in all. In the process, it helped create a network of milk cooperatives that comprised 22 federations and apex milk unions and 9.3 million dairy farmers in 22 states, reaching out to four metros, more than 100 Class 1 cities, and other major towns and urban areas across the country

http://businesstoday.intoday.in/stor.../1/187916.html

Really great information. Am glad the money goes to the deserving producers in this case.
Contrast this with our 2G or3G scam figures or even the CWG scam figure!
What a sorry state our country has reached!

[Mistakenguy]

Originally Posted by Ford5

Dr. Kurien hated Milk. "I hate milk, I hate the taste of it" was uttered in an interview on NDTV last year. Funny how a man who hated milk, milked out something so important in our daily lives !

Slight OT but still relevant: AMUL seems like an Ad company today, more than a co-operative dairy. Ad budgets have been hiked only for the delight of a few urban readers looking at hoardings and reading a few select newspapers.

End result = What costed Rupees 18 last year same time is Rs. 30 now for 100 gms. And mind you it was Rs 18 for a period of almost 2 years ! It's sort of weird because the AMUL girl is seen lampooning everybody. The wittiness is gone. It was better off when those ad's came out once a month.

@Ford5: Just a small correction : Last year same time the price was Rs. 27 per 100 gm. A hike of 12 % in an year. I agree that the frequency of the topical has gone up and at many times is not as witty as it used to be.
The ad budget as a % of total turnover has not gone up steeply and it is a demand of the market to remain competitive. You might be surprised to know that the returns to farmers have gone up to Rs. 450 Rs./kg of milk fat.