Amul MD Dr RS Sodhi resigns; Jayen Mehta to take charge

Dr RS Sodhi, the Managing Director (MD) of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the cooperative that runs the Amul brand and has the largest share in India’s dairy market, has resigned from the post. The GCMMF board has accepted his resignation. Chief Operating Officer (COO) Jayen Mehta will now take charge in his place. Dr Sodhi started his tenure at Amul as Senior Sales Officer in 1982 and became MD in 2010.

Speaking to Rural Voice, Dr Sodhi said, “I proposed my resignation to the GCMMF board, which they accepted.” He said that his tenure had been over, after which the board had given him an extension. He said that he had left GCMMF after working for 40 years and nine months. “The expansion that Amul witnessed during my tenure is a great achievement for me too,” said Dr Sodhi.

Dr Sodhi was the Chief General Manager of Amul before he became the MD of GCMMF. While Amul increased milk procurement phenomenally during his tenure, it also had a steep rise in its turnover. And it was during this period that GCMMF went for milk collection beyond Gujarat and expanded its business. It now procures more than 42 lakh litres of milk per day from states other than Gujarat.

"My organization's turnover was just Rs 121 crore when I joined,” said Dr Sodhi. “Our six district unions then (Kaira, Mehsana, Sabarkantha, Baroda, Surat and Banaskantha) were together procuring only an average 12 lakh kg per day of milk. I have seen Amul grow over four decades and reach newer heights.”

During his tenure as MD, GCMMF's sales turnover increased from Rs 8,005 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 46,481 crore in 2021-22. This year the turnover of the Amul brand will reach Rs 71,000 crore.

The average daily milk procurement by its member unions went up from 93.02 lakh kg per day to 263.66 lakh kg per day during Dr Sodhi’s tenure as MD. Besides, the average procurement price paid to dairy farmers rose from Rs 337 per kg fat to Rs 820 per kg fat. Also, the number of producer members of GCMMF unions went up from 29.10 lakh to 36.40 lakh.

Dr Sodhi is president of the Indian Dairy Association (IDA). He made a presentation at the International Dairy Conference recently in which he said that milk production would increase in India at the fastest pace in the world in the coming years and that India would have the largest share in the incremental production.

He has written an article on the prospects of the dairy sector in India in the special print edition of Rural Voice that was released on its second anniversary.