Amul’s Bengal mega plant to double milk procurement as cooperative lines up new projects across India
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As India's largest dairy cooperative expands its manufacturing footprint, Amul is positioning West Bengal as its biggest growth engine in eastern India by doubling milk procurement, widening its farmer base and using the state as a supply hub for the wider region.
The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets the Amul brand, is setting up the Amul Bengal Dairy Project at the Howrah Food Park. The facility, expected to be operational in about two years, will process 30 lakh litres of milk per day and house what the cooperative says will be the world's largest curd plant, capable of producing around 1,000 metric tonnes, or 10 lakh kilograms, of curd and other cultured dairy products every day.
The project forms part of Amul's broader ₹10,000 crore investment plan over the next two to three years, under which it will set up 10 to 12 new plants across dairy, ice cream and food products. The investment comes after the cooperative has nearly deployed the earlier ₹11,000 crore investment announced in 2023.
"It is a very big investment in Bengal because that is a very potential state and a potential market," Jayen Mehta, managing director, GCMMF, told Fortune India. He said Amul currently procures around nine lakh litres of milk every day from about 900 villages and 1.25 lakh farmers in the state, but plans to expand that network to over 3,000 villages in the coming years.
According to Mehta, that expansion will help double milk procurement in West Bengal to more than 20 lakh litres a day. He described the project as the first investment of its scale in eastern India's dairy sector, with processing capacity of 30 lakh litres per day and procurement targeted at over 20 lakh litres. Fresh dairy products will primarily cater to the local market, while long shelf life products will be supplied across eastern India.
Beyond curd, the plant will package 10 lakh litres of milk daily, process two lakh litres of UHT milk, produce one lakh litres of ice cream, 20 metric tonnes of paneer, 10 metric tonnes each of ghee and sweets, besides manufacturing around 2.5 lakh packs of flavoured milk every day.
The cooperative movement is also expanding in the state. Amul currently works with more than 1.25 lakh milk producers in West Bengal, including over 30,000 women farmers, procuring around nine lakh litres of milk every day. According to the government, the project is expected to strengthen dairy cooperatives, rural storage infrastructure, digital cooperative administration and farmer livelihoods across the state.
More manufacturing hubs in the pipeline, no immediate milk price hike
The Bengal facility is only one of several manufacturing projects underway.
Mehta said Amul is setting up another large dairy unit in Baghpat in western Uttar Pradesh and has secured land for new dairy plants in Bihar and Assam, besides planning another major project in Hyderabad. "At any given point of time, there are a dozen greenfield and brownfield projects in the pipeline," he said, adding that most of these projects are targeted for completion within two years of foundation laying.
On milk prices, Mehta said the cooperative does not see the need for another increase after the 3% to 4% revision undertaken in May.
"We had a price increase in May, which was a marginal 3-4% increase over last year. You can't blame milk for inflation because we have consistently been below the overall range of inflation in the country," he said. While farmers need to be compensated for rising input costs, consumer affordability also remains important, he added. "Our increase has already happened this year."
Mehta also highlighted the cooperative model's farmer-first approach. "If you spend ₹100 on Amul products, ₹80 to ₹85 goes back to the farmer. Our mandate is to pay the highest price to the farmer," he said.
GCMMF, which markets the Amul brand, recently crossed the ₹1 lakh crore milestone in total Amul brand turnover in FY26, while the federation's own sales turnover rose 11.4% to ₹73,450 crore from ₹65,911 crore a year earlier.