Daily Dairy Report

 Before ‘Utterly Butterly Delicious’, Amul’s ‘Taste of India’ tagline was ‘Purely the Best’. The change worked, the ad-makers said, because nonsense is always more memorable than sense. That's the logic of branding, but India's most successful dairy cooperative had a distinctive edge too: quality. It gets its name from ‘Amulya’, meaning priceless. Whether it has lived up to its name is for consumers to decide, but Amul did set standards for purity of milk products, better returns for dairy farmers with the middle man out of the picture and, of course, the importance of becoming a trusted household brand.  

Upgrading the quality parameters at its plants, fixing competitive rates for dairy farmers and better branding are the new realities confronting Milkfed, the state-owned dairy cooperative whose brand Verka has been Punjab's answer to Amul for years. As the dairy giant begins its milk processing operations at a leased plant in Batala and talks of reinvigorating dairy farming in the state, Milkfed has a challenge on its hand. Verka is a credible product and more so considering its bureaucratic lineage compared to the professional setup of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation which sells milk under the Amul brand. It may be a well-known commodity in Punjab, but Verka will not find it easy to match the reach and potential of Amul and the Amul girl, the social commentator with catchy messages, staring down hoardings.

The Punjab Cooperative Department has put up a brave face and played down Amul's market threat to Verka, though there would be understandable concerns over the new home competition. These now can be channelled by Milkfed into changes that would improve the quality of its products and ensure a better deal for dairy farmers. As for the consumers, choice is always good and what they can realistically hope for is that the prices remain static and they are not made to pay more in the name of improved quality.