Amul-Nandini Row Continues To Keep Karnataka On The Boil

Bengaluru: Social media was flooded with #GoBackAmul hashtag as people came out in support of the local dairy brand Nandini (#SaveNandini) after dairy industry giant Amul, which Gujarat-based Anand Milk Union Limited markets, announced to enter Bengaluru market, via e-commerce channels.

With emotions running high, a hotels body in Karnataka has now decided to use only Nandini milk. “We are all proud of Karnataka’s Nandini milk produced by our farmers and it should be encouraged. In our city, clean and delicious coffee stands as the backbone of snacks. And we encourage it with great pride. It is being heard that milk from other states is being shipped to Karnataka recently. We are all Nandini,” read a statement from Bruhat Bengaluru Hotels Association.

Nandini is the largest milk supplier of Bengaluru with 70 per cent market share in the city. Though milk prices of Nandini Dairy is one of the lowest at just Rs 39 per litre, it fears a major dent in its sales despite Amul Taaza and Amul Gold, and other packet milk brands, being sold online at Rs 54 a litre and Rs 64 a litre each in Bengaluru.

“While I am aware of this Twitter storm over our recent announcement, I would like to indicate that we are only looking at e-commerce/quick commerce channels right now. We are not looking at general trade at the moment. For that, we will need to bring down price points. There is no such plan currently. And a modern trade entry of Amul in Bengaluru will happen only six months later,” managing director (MD), Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), Jayen Mehta told FE.

The announcement also took a political turn with the Congress accusing the BJP of hatching a conspiracy to kill the state’s formidable dairy brand. Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka Siddaramaiah called on the people of Karnataka and said that “all Kannadigas should pledge not to buy Amul products”.

He further alleged that Milk stock in KMF had decreased during BJP regime. “Where 99 lakh litres of milk should be collected per day, only 71 lakh litres of milk is being collected. Is this a conspiracy against KMF?” he asked.

JD(S) leader and former CM HD Kumaraswamy said that Amul was strangulating the Karnataka Milk Federation and the farmers.

Allaying the fear, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommaim said that steps would be taken to make the brand Nandini more competitive. “Nandini will become the number one brand in the country,” he added.