Amid the outcry over the milk cooperative Amul entering the Bengaluru market to compete with Nandini milk, officials in the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) said that they are unhappy with the development and plan to write to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) over the issue. Amul's announcement on Tuesday that it will supply milk and curd in Bengaluru was met with opposition and uproar with opposition leaders in Karnataka terming it as a move to 'finish off' KMF's Nandini brand in the state.
The timing of the announcement has set off speculations as it comes just one month before the Karnataka Assembly elections. KMF officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that they were unhappy with Amul's announcement to enter the Bengaluru market. "It does not make sense for two successful milk cooperatives to compete with each other in a milk-surplus state and hurt each other's business interests. Instead, the competition to market milk should be in other states that are milk-deficient which will help both cooperatives and the public," a KMF official told TNM.
KMF's Nandini brand competes with Amul in regions like Mumbai, Goa, Hyderabad and Chennai. KMF is planning to write to the NDDB requesting Amul not to venture into Karnataka. "It is also a question of the future of Nandini. We do not want Nandini to be erased," added the KMF official. Sources said Amul's move broke an unwritten rule that the milk cooperatives would not enter the markets in each other's home state.
KMF, which manages the popular dairy brand Nandini, and has an annual turnover of Rs 25,000 crore, is a large cooperative network of milk production, processing, and distribution that serves 26 lakh farmers in Karnataka. It is the second-largest milk cooperative in the country after Amul.
The announcement comes at a time when the ruling BJP is being accused of plotting to merge KMF with Amul. Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s statement in January this year, about “KMF and Amul working together” sparked a widespread backlash from farmers in the state and the regional Janata Dal (Secular) party, which has historically held sway in KMF.
Opposition leaders compared Amul’s decision to enter the Bengaluru market to the merger of banks, particularly the Bank of Baroda and Vijaya Bank, which was started in Mangaluru in 1931 and had an 87-year-old history when it was merged in 2019. “Beware of Prime Minister Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah and their double engine government. They will sell all the assets belonging to Kannadigas. After destroying our banks, they are now determined to destroy Nandini KMF - a brand built by our farmers,” former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said.
Another former Chief Minister, HD Kumaraswamy, said there was a plot to merge Amul with Nandini and replace curd and ‘mosaru’ with ‘dahi’. In a controversy that erupted a week ago, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a directive to label curd products as curd or an alternative in the regional language after opposition, mainly from south Indian states, about the imposition of the Hindi word ‘dahi’.
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai sought to play down concerns over Amul entering the market in Bengaluru and stated that it would make Nandini a more competitive brand. "There is no need for anyone to get concerned about the Amul brand. We will initiate steps to make brand Nandini more competitive. Nandini will become the number one brand in the country," Basavaraj Bommai said.