Dairy sector expected to create 1.2 crore new jobs in a few years

March 29, 2019

FE Bureau | March 29, 2019

 

India’s dairy sector, which is one-third of the country’s $300-bn food industry, is expected to generate 1.2 crore new jobs in a few years, an industry leader has said. According to RS Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand, organised segment in the dairy is producing 9 crore litre, and in few years, it would produce 30 crore litre and would generate 1.2 crore new jobs. He claimed that the production of l lakh litre milk generate around 6,000 jobs — 5,000 in rural areas and 1,000 in urban areas.

The size of food industry in India is $300 billion, of which dairy sector worths around $100 million, Sodhi said during a session on ‘Industry as Nation Builders for a New India’, organised by the CII Western Region Council on Thursday.

He said unless sincere efforts to modernise dairy industry with latest technological innovations is made, it would be difficult to retain youth in the sector. “Youngsters don’t find dairy sector glamorous despite the fact that it would give handsome return on investments. Dairy is the only sector in which producers are guaranteed with ready market with assured price. The only thing required to propel the sector is to make it contemporary with adoption of modern technology,” he added.

In Gujarat alone, nearly 15,000 highly educated youth, some of them having studied in reputed institutions like IIM and IIT, have come into dairy industry by adopting state-of-the-art technologies, he said. Food and agro processing for rural areas is as important as information and technology is for urban areas, said Rakesh Bharti Mittal, CII President and vice-chairman of Bharti Enterprises, adding that you cannot have islands of growth and happiness, you have to support underprivileged.

CII Western Region Council president and CMD of Rasna Piruz Khambatta said that the GDP growth of the country can be double digit only if income disparity is reduced. He said that 1% affluent people holding 60% wealth of the nation wouldn’t solve the issue. Emphasizing on making youth future-ready, he suggested introduction of vocational skills right from the primary level of education across the country.

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