R. S. Sodhi
Managing Director
Amul India Ltd (GCMMF)
R. S. Sodhi became Managing Director of Amul India Ltd. in 2010,
before which he was Amul India’s Chief General Manager from June
2004 to June 2010. He has been with the Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMF) for 30 years. He played a pivotal
role in creating the GCMMF structure. Mr. Sodhi has been a visiting
faculty member at the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, for more
than two decades on subjects related to sales and marketing. He has
spoken at many International and national seminars, including events
at Harvard Business School and Ismaili Economic Forum, Dubai. He
has also been a guest faculty at ISB, Hyderabad and IIM Ahmedabad.
Mr. Sodhi is a graduate of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand.
Founded in 1946, GCMMF is India's largest food products marketing organization with annual
sales of US$2.4 billion in FY2010-FY2011, up 22.1% from the previous year. The company
procures an average of 10 million liters of milk every day from 3 million farmers across 15,712
villages of Gujarat. GCMMF has received the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export
Development Authority (APEDA) Award from the Government of India for Excellence in Dairy
Product Exports for the past thirteen years. GCMMF, branded as Amul, produces and markets
food products in India. It offers a range of dairy products from butter and cheese to ghee, infant
milk, milk powders, desserts and curd products. GCMMF operates through a network of 47
sales offices, 5,000 dealers and 100,000 retailers in Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Baroda, Delhi,
Mumbai, Hyderabad, and Surat. The company sells its products through dairy and ice cream
distributors, as well as online. Amul also exports its products to the United States, Gulf
countries, and Singapore.
Amul’s business model involves different dimensions that build inclusive growth with the
farmers. The company’s Fertility Improvement Program focuses on holistic animal nutrition,
breeding and health, and aims to convert non-productive animals into productive assets. Amul is
integrating technology across its federation members through its Information Technology
Integration program. To date, it has successfully implemented the first phase of SAP ERP
application across major parts of the GCMMF enterprise. Finally, Amul is engaged in ecology
through its Sustainable Ecological Development program, which invites farmers to re-plant trees
on their farms every independence day.
Mr. Sodhi sees important constraints in the dairy industry being in milk supply and processing
facilities. The supply of milk is limited and the demand is growing at an enormous rate, to
income increases among Indian families. Amul, with its great brand, sees the need to expand its
catchment area for procurement beyond Gujarat. Amul has already started expanding to other
state, procuring from others. Also, the company needs to keep the farmers engaged in
business by providing them with higher returns and better quality of life. However, competition is
increasing with a growing number of regional and MNC players. On the procurement side,
Amul’s competitive advantage is the trust built over the years and philosophy of creating value
for producers by giving them fair prices.
R. S. SODHI may be reached at:
sodhi@amul.coop | +91 2692 258506 | Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation,
PO Box 10, Amul Dairy Road, Anand 388 001, Gujarat, India