Dr R S Sodhi, Managing Director, Amul receives APO regional award as Asia Pacific Productivity Champion

June 10,  2021

Dr. R S Sodhi, Managing Director (MD), Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF) (Amul) has received the prestigious Asian Productivity Organization (APO), Tokyo, Japan regional award.

The GCMMF press release says: “It is pertinent to note that Dr. Sodhi is the first person in the last 20 years from India to receive the award.” It was also mentioned in the release that the Government of India’s National Productivity Council (NPC) under the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, had unanimously recommended his name from India for the APO award.

On this occasion, Dr Sodhi accepted the award from on behalf of the 3.6 million milk producers of Gujarat. He is the first-batch alumnus from the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA). He joined Amul in the year 1982 directly after completing his post-graduation in rural management from IRMA and rose to the present MD level in June 2010.

While accepting the award, Dr. Sodhi conveyed his sincere thanks to Arun Kumar Jha, IES, Director General (DG), NPC for nominating the “Milk Man” for the award.

Speaking to RuralVoice, Dr. Sodhi said, “It's the recognition of India's having the most productivity-efficient supply chain of milk in the world. Where the farmer gets 70-80% of consumer price as compared to the world average of 35-40%.”

NPC provides training and consultancy and undertakes research in a plethora of areas. It also implements the productivity promotion plans and programmes of the Tokyo-based Asian Productivity Organization (APO), an inter-governmental body of which the Government of India is a founder member.

The APO invites nominations from the national productivity organizations (NPOs) of member countries. Its regional awards are conferred every five years. The award is conferred to those individuals who have contributed significantly to advancing the productivity movement in the Asia-Pacific region.

It is interesting to note that over the last 11 years, under Dr Sodhi’s leadership, milk procurement of member unions has increased by 2.7 times (from average 91 lakh kg per day in 2009-10 to 246 lakh kg per day in 2020-21). Such creditable growth in milk procurement, says the release, was a result of the high milk procurement price of around 2.5 times (Rs 337 per kg fat in 2009-10 to Rs 810 per kg fat in 2020-21) paid in this period to milk producer members.

The highly remunerative price paid over the years helped retain the farmers’ interest in milk production and made them invest more in this field.

GCMMF and its member unions have implemented various Total Quality Management (TQM) programmes for the last 22 years not only for marketing, sales and production team but also for milk producer members of Gujarat. The TQM initiative at all levels along with promotion of the concept of commercial, scientific, cooperative dairy farming ensures retaining the next generation of dairy farmers, too, in the business.

According to the release, GCMMF is the largest food product organization of India that achieved group sales turnover of Rs 53,000 crores (USD 7.3 billion) during the last financial year and aimed to achieve Rs 1,00,000 crores (USD 14 billion) in the next five years.

Every year, GCMMF achieves a milestone, says the release, because its member unions ensure that around 75-85% of the consumer rupee goes back to milk producer members by constantly maintaining supply chain efficiency.