Vendors fear Amul-Nandini 'merger' will hit local product sale

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru:

The Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) recently announced that it plans to introduce Amul milk and curd in Bengaluru through quick e-commerce platforms. However, this move has sparked criticism from local vendors who are concerned about the impact on the KMF-owned Nandini brand and Karnataka farmers. While some local vendors around the city of Bengaluru are detached from the issue, other local vendors allege an artificial scarcity of milk has been created by the central government in the past couple of weeks to increase the sales of Amul milk and curd in the state.

Activist Chetan Jeeral has expressed concern that if KMF merges with Amul, it could disrupt the dayto-day transactions and earnings on which local vendors depend. He said, “The central government is not talking about Amul’s merger with KMF, but talking about KMF merging with Amul” He also added, “Many Kannadigaas have a strong connection with Nandini, and vendors fear that this move will reduce the sales of Nandini in the market.”

Local vendors have expressed their support for the Nandini brand and Karnataka farmers, citing Rs 11 difference between the prices of the two brands, with Amul milk priced at Rs 54 per litre and Nandini orange milk at Rs 43 per litre. On social media Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has also criticised this move by the central government on Twitter, drawing parallels with the merger of Baroda Bank and Vijaya Bank and the handing over of ports and airports to Adani.

Responding to the criticisms, the BJP IT cell's Amit Malviya made a statement on Twitter, “Amul is NOT entering Karnataka. Both Amul and KMF sell their products across quick-commerce platforms. KMF’s turnover went up by Rs 10,000 crore after BJP came to power in 2019. In 2022, turnover stood at Rs 25,000 crore, of which Rs 20,000 crore went back to farmers of Karnataka.”