Milk prices hiked again: Bengaluru has the cheapest price in India

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets its dairy products under the Amul brand, on Tuesday (August 16) increased the prices of its toned and full-cream milk brands (Gold, Taaza and Shakti) by ₹2 per litre across several Indian cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The new prices came into effect today (August 17). Toned milk now costs ₹52 per litre in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Kolkata. Full-cream milk comes at ₹62 per litre in these cities.

This price hike is being done due to an increase in the overall cost of operation and production of milk. The hike of ₹2 per litre translates into a 4% increase in MRP, which is lower than the average food inflation, GCMMF said in press release.

Also read: Karnataka techie quits job to start donkey farm; gets orders worth ₹17 lakh for milk

“The GCMMF has decided to increase the milk prices by Rs 2 per litre in the markets of Ahmedabad and Saurashtra region in Gujarat, Delhi NCR, West Bengal, Mumbai and all other markets where Amul is marketing its fresh milk,” the Anand-headquartered federation said.

In Ahmedabad and Saurashtra markets, now the price of 500 ml of Amul Gold will be ₹31, Amul Taaza ₹25 and Amul Shakti ₹28, it said.

“The cattle feeding cost alone has increased by approximately 20% compared to last year. Considering the rise in input costs, our member unions have also increased farmers’ prices in the range of eight to nine per cent over the previous year,” the statement said.

Amul as a policy passes on almost 80 paise of every rupee paid by consumers to the milk producers, it said.

“The price revision shall help in sustaining remunerative prices for our milk producers and encourage them for higher milk production,” the release added.

Also read: Amul, Mother Dairy hike milk prices by ₹2 per litre; here’s why

Mother Dairy, one of the leading milk suppliers in Delhi-NCR, too hiked milk prices by ₹2 with effect from August 17. Now, full cream milk costs ₹61 per litre and toned milk ₹51 while double toned milk is up to ₹45 per litre.

Cheapest milk in India

After the price revision of Amul and Mother Dairy, it is interesting to note that Bangalore stands out in the milk market for providing milk at the cheapest price in India.

While the least expensive Amul brand of milk comes at ₹44 for double-toned milk per litre in Ahmedabad following the hike, people in Bangalore buy milk at ₹38 per litre for toned milk.

The price difference per litre between Bangalore and other cities like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Kolkata is ₹14 for toned milk. However, in Chennai, the State-owned Aavin milk comes at ₹40 per litre for toned milk.

Also read: WPI inflation eases to a five-month low as food prices soften

In Bangalore, the ‘Nandini’ milk brand is sold at this price. Nandini is the product of the Karnataka Cooperative Milk Producers’ Federation (KMF). Like Amul, KMF too sells toned, double-toned, full-cream milk products.

According to KMF, its toned milk, priced ₹38 per litre, is “Karnataka’s highest selling and most preferred milk. Pasteurised toned milk with minimum 3% fat and minimum 8.5% SNF (Solids-not-fat) content make this milk the best choice for all purposes and all generation.”

“KMF is the apex body for the dairy co-operative movement in Karnataka. It is the second largest dairy co-operative among the dairy cooperatives in the country. In south India it stands first in terms of procurement as well as sales,” KMF said.

As per KMF data, milk is procured from more than 22,000 villages in Karnataka and there are 14,000-plus milk co-operative societies. It procures more than 84 lakh kg of milk per day and ₹17 crore-plus payments to farmers per day.

The success of KMF and providing milk at such cheap rate is due to a scheme introduced by the BJP government led by BS Yediyurappa in 2008 when he announced ₹2 per litre incentive to the farmers who supplied milk to KMF’s dairy unions. The subsequent governments continued the scheme.

In 2013, the Congress government led by Siddaramaiah doubled the incentive and in 2016, raised to ₹5 per litre. Later, in 2019, CM Yediyurappa increased it to ₹6 per litre.

According to Statista survey released in April, in December 2021, the national average retail price of milk per kilogram was ₹50. However, among major cities across India, the average retail prices of milk per kg were lower than the national average.

Difference between toned, double-toned, full-cream milk

Pasteurised toned milk contains a minimum of 3% fat and a minimum of 8.5% SNF content. This milk makes it the best choice for all purposes and all generations, and is the most sold in Karnataka, according to KMF.

Also read: Alaska kids served sealant instead of milk at school programme

Pasteurised double-toned milk is homogenised milk with a minimum of 1.5% fat and a minimum of 9% SNF while pure pasteurised full cream milk has 6% fat and 9% SNF.

Also, there is pure pasteurised standardised milk which has 4.5% fat and 8.5% SNF.