“We must protect our dairy farmers first—even if it comes at the cost of exports.”

IBT interacted with Dr. Jayen Mehta, Managing Director of Amul, to gain his perspective on the structural, technological, and global shifts reshaping India’s dairy sector. Speaking on everything from export opportunities to cooperative governance and the future of value-added dairy, Dr. Mehta provides a strategic blueprint for how India can scale, compete, and lead in the next decade.

IBT: What structural changes do you believe are necessary for India to transition from a volume-driven dairy economy to a value-driven one?

Jayen Mehta: India must invest in modern processing and cold chain infrastructure, breed improvement, and digital supply chains to shift from volume-driven liquid milk sales to value-added products like cheese, whey proteins, and premium yogurts, which command higher margins and export potential. There should be incentives for value-addition exports, low-interest credit for dairy farmers, and buffer stocks for skimmed milk powder stabilize prices amid surpluses. The protection shall continue against cheap imports via tariffs supports to domestic producers, as seen in ongoing FTA negotiations

What categories or product formats do you foresee becoming India’s biggest export opportunities over the next decade?

Jayen Mehta: India’s biggest dairy export opportunities over the next decade lie in high-value processed products like ghee and butteroil (HS-040590), unprocessed cheese (HS-040690), casein (HS-350110), and skimmed milk powder (HS-040210), targeting Gulf nations (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar) and Southeast Asia (Malaysia and Singapore) which are strategically located closer to India and are milk deficit themselves.

Gulf countries offer stable demand with positive elasticities for fat-based items, while Malaysia and Singapore show potential for cheese and casein amid diversification from traditional South Asia. Emerging Central Asia (e.g., Uzbekistan) and new markets like Iraq provide growth via FTAs, reducing reliance on incessant markets like Bangladesh and UAE

How should India’s cooperative model evolve to stay resilient and continue securing farmer incomes in this changing environment?

Jayen Mehta: India’s cooperative dairy model should evolve by integrating digital technologies, adopting block chain, diversifying into value-added exports, and enhancing farmer training to maintain resilience amid surpluses, import pressures, and global competition.   The coops shall target Gulf and ASEAN markets which has high elasticity demand, urbanization and income growth. It is desirable that dairy farmer get low-interest credit and there is buffer stocking of SMP & Butter to protect against price crashes.

Where do you see the biggest technology gaps in the Indian dairy supply chain, and what innovations can deliver the highest ROI for farmers and processors?

Jayen Mehta: India’s dairy supply chain faces major technology gaps in cold-chain and logistics exuberated by inadequate refrigerated transport, real-time traceability, and digital procurement. While Amul is well ahead in this, others need to cope up fast.

Do you view plant-based alternatives as competition, an opportunity for collaboration, or simply another category that will coexist with dairy?

Jayen Mehta: Plant-based alternatives segments like oat/almond/soy milk and yogurt primarily target health-conscious urban segments providing competition to urban beverage market whereas cooperatives primarily focus on fluid milk. Both can coexist as a distinct category at the marketplace and there are opportunities in blended hybrid products like dairy-plant blends.

Also, people are realizing that so-called plant-based products are available on the market not only at very high prices but are lashed with preservatives and additives which are far away from nature.

Amul’s cooperative structure has been admired worldwide for decades. What aspects of the cooperative governance model do you believe need to evolve to prepare for the next 50 years of India’s dairy growth?

Jayen Mehta: Amul’s cooperative governance must evolve toward higher professionalization envisaged in National Cooperative Policy 2025, increase digital transparency, and aim at higher efficiency to sustain resilience over the next 50 years amid value-driven shifts and global pressures. We at Amul, are continuously taking lot of steps including breed improvement, sorted sex semen, yield improvement to investing into newer technology for different value-added products.

Amul is expanding across beverages, protein foods, and wellness categories. How do you balance fast-paced innovation with consumer needs while staying true to cooperative values?

Jayen Mehta: Amul can balance rapid innovation in beverages, proteins, and wellness by anchoring decisions in farmer-majority boards, piloting consumer co-creation via digital platforms, and ring-fencing profits for patronage refunds and more importantly preserving its cooperative ethos amid diversifications.

What are the biggest challenges in taking an Indian dairy brand global, and how is Amul navigating regulatory, supply-chain, and brand positioning hurdles?

Jayen Mehta: Indian dairy brands face biggest challenges in stringent global food safety regulations (e.g., EU hormone bans, US FDA residue limits and Halal/Kosher certifications), perishable supply chain logistics like cold-chain gaps and small holder farming hinder scalability, and weak brand equity against established global like  Nestlé/ Fonterra in premium market. Amul is penetrating overseas market with NRI-focused Indian diaspora leverage.

Also, one must not forget that India is the largest milk consumer in the world and has long way to go. We must continue to protect interest of dairy farmers first even if required at the cost of exports.

How was your experience with Indusfood 2025 and what are your expectations with the 2026 edition?

Jayen Mehta: Indusfood 2025 showcased robust B2B networking for Indian exporters. The unique approach of inviting only global importers is proving big beneficial to all exhibitors as it helps with focused discussion. We look forward to a similar experience and focused discussion with importers in the current year also.

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Dr. Jayen Mehta, Managing Director, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd., Anand (Amul)