Milk wars boil over Amul's expansion plans in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu

Southern states see threats to the cooperative value chains with GCMMF's attempt to enter the procurement business

The recent battles between the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which owns the Amul brand, and Nandini in Karnataka and Aavin in Tamil Nadu may have some roots in a ten-year-old headline-grabbing tussle between Verghese Kurien, the driving force behind India's White Revolution and GCMMF chairman, and Amrita Patel, chairman of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB). 

Patel, a Verghese protégé, had wanted to create an umbrella brand under Mother Dairy (an NDDB subsidiary), by setting up joint ventures with state federations to create a centralised brand. Mother Dairy would hold a 51 per cent stake in each joint