India is an agriculture-based country with a sizable agricultural population depending on the dairy industry. India is the largest producer of milk which accounts for 23% of global milk production and is projected to grow by 50% in 2025. The dairy industry contributes 5% to the National economy of India and directly supports to near about 8 crore farmers in India. NITI Aayog has projected the country’s milk production to touch 330 million tonnes by the year 2033-34.
The dairy industry is one of the major industries in the rural part of India for revenue generation. In India, 8 crore farmers maintain a milking herd of 125.35 million which includes 74.18 million cows and 51.17 million buffaloes as per the 20th Livestock Census, 2019 data. Major producers of dairy products in India are Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu.
India’s export of Dairy products has increased exponentially in the last three years. In 2021 – 22 India exported about 108711 MT of Dairy products which cost US$ 391.59 million (Rs. 2928.76 crores). Products like Butter, Milk Fat, Cheese, and Albumin have high demand in the global markets.
Considering the growth potential of the Dairy industry the government of India, The Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying has taken several initiatives for the growth of India’s animal husbandry and dairy sector. Government launches various scheme National Program for Dairy Development (NPDD) to strengthen Infrastructure for high-quality milk production. The dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS) was introduced to create self-employment opportunities in the sector, Supporting Dairy Cooperatives and Farmer Producer Organizations (SDCFPO) engaged in dairy activities during 2020-21. To increase the productivity of livestock government launched Nationwide Artificial Insemination Program (NAIP) in 2019, fully funded by GoI to produce high-quality hybrids.
Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) focuses on the creation, modernization, and expansion of processing infrastructure and manufacturing facilities for value-added dairy products to make milk processing plants more efficient. Also Focusing on setting up chilling infrastructure, cold storage, and installation of electronic milk adulteration testing equipment at the village level. The scheme has a total corpus of Rs 11,184 crore under which milk cooperatives will be provided financial assistance.
Milk production has a great scope in the domestic market, being a major source of proteins to a sizable population. Historically per capita, milk availability in India remains to be woefully low, this can be changed soon in order to address the substantial nutritional requirement of a growing population.
