Dairying business bigger than Apple and Microsoft together, says an expert at IDF World Dairy Summit

At $800bn the consumer value of the dairying business is “bigger than the combined revenue” of Apple and Microsoft, said Dr Torsten Hemme, CEO, IFCN AG, Germany, while addressing a session titled ‘Evolution of Dairying: A Livelihood Perspective’ at the ongoing summit inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. NDDB has been adjudged as the most innovative organization in the world with the best R&D Application as it led the global awards list at the IDF Dairy Innovation Awards given during the Summit.

Dairying business bigger than Apple and Microsoft together, says an expert at IDF World Dairy Summit

Greater Noida

The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has been adjudged as the most innovative organization in the world with the best R&D application as it led the global awards list at the IDF Dairy Innovation Awards given during the International Dairy Federation World Dairy Summit (IDF WDS) 2022 being held at Expo Centre, Greater Noida, in Delhi-NCR. Of the 12 awards, Indian entities bagged nearly half, taking home six trophies.

Importance of dairying

The importance of dairying was highlighted by eminent experts at the Summit.

Dairying is possibly as old as the civilization of mankind, global experts said at the IDF WDS 2022. Its business, they said, is bigger than tech giants Apple and Microsoft put together.

At $800bn the consumer value of the dairying business is “bigger than the combined revenue” of Apple and Microsoft, said Dr Torsten Hemme, CEO, IFCN AG, Germany, while addressing a session titled ‘Evolution of Dairying: A Livelihood Perspective’ at the ongoing summit inaugurated by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi.

During 2014-19, of the total revenue, more than 70 per cent was accounted for by the milk farmers, he said in his presentation.

NDDB Chairman Meenesh Shah said that dairying holds equal importance in both the developed and developing world, as more than 1bn people across the world are dependent on dairying for their livelihood.

Earlier, Shah had projected that India’s dairy business would grow from Rs 13trn at present to Rs 30trn by 2027.

Other eminent experts who spoke in this session were Dr S Rajkumar, Professor at RIVER, Puducherry, who equalled dairy evolution to the livelihood evolution in India and elsewhere and called upon the dairy industry that “participation of women in improving productivity from cows and buffaloes is clearly the need of the hour.”

IDF Dairy Innovation Awards

The apex dairying institution NDDB, known for its innovation and transforming of milk production in the country, received the awards in three categories: (i) Innovation in Research & Development – Collection & Processing, (ii) Innovation in Research & Development – Farming and (iii) Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices – Environment.

Apart from NDDB, Amul (GCMMF) also won the award in Innovation & Research – Consumer Nutrition for its range of protein buttermilk and lassi, which was shared with Societe des Produits Nestle SA.

The dairy industry organizations from participating countries that won the awards were Dairycs (Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices – Animal Care), Mooofarm (Innovation in Sustainable Farming Practices – Socio-Economic), Brazzale SpA (Sustainable Processing), Dairycs (Innovation in Research & Development – Farming), Yilli Group (Innovation in Research & Development – New Product Development and Innovation in Research & Development – Food Safety), Wipak UK (Innovation in Sustainable Packaging) and KMF (Innovation in School Milk Programmes).

The Summit is being held 48 years after India hosted the International Dairy Congress in 1974.