|
|
|
You can get e-magazine links on WhatsApp. Click here
|
|
|
|
|
|
Infra fund amount small; National Action Plan key
|
|
Monday, 01 October, 2018, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
|
|
Ashwani Maindola, New Delhi
|
While, as the Government of India stated, vast opportunities exist for dairy entrepreneurs, it operationalised the Dairy Processing and Infrastructure Development Fund (DIDF) with an outlay of Rs 10,881 crore. This, however, is not enough; the government’s own submission of Rs 51,077 crore is needed to operationalise the National Action Plan (Vision-2024).
However, Radha Mohan Singh, minister of agriculture and farmers’ welfare, said that it has just begun and the plan would consolidate in future. Announced during the Union Budget 2017-18, the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DADF) started the DIDF, under which the first installment of Rs 440 crore is being given to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
“About 95,00,000 farmers in about 50,000 villages are expected to benefit from this scheme,” stated the government, adding that many skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers will get employment, directly and indirectly.
The fund also aimed at creating additional milk processing capacity of 126 lakh litre per day, milk drying capacity of 210 metric tonne (MT) per day, milk chilling capacity of 140 lakh litre per day (LLPD). And under this scheme, milk cooperatives will be provided financial assistance of Rs 8,004 crore in the form of a loan at 6.5 per cent interest, which will be reimbursed over a period of 10 years. The government has also given a provision of interest subsidy on loans.
Till now, 15 sub-projects with total approved outlay of Rs 1,148.61 crore pertaining to three states, namely Karnataka (five sub-projects at an outlay of Rs 7,76.39 crore), Punjab (four sub-projects at an outlay of Rs 3,18.01 crore) and Haryana (six sub-projects at an outlay of Rs 54.21 crore) have been sanctioned.
Phase-I of NDP
Singh also informed that the implementation of Phase-I of the World Bank-funded National Dairy Plan is also being done by NDDB through the state government’s cooperative milk organisations/federations.
The government is now implementing this scheme in 18 states from the earlier 14. Meanwhile, the implementation of NPDD is being done by the state's cooperative/milk federations. Under this scheme, an assistance of Rs 560.46 crore between 2014 and 2018 was given for the development of cooperative milk committees and as incentives to increase the number of milk producers and increase processing and refrigeration capacity.
A spokesperson from Amul mentioned that it was a very big initiative that the government had undertaken regarding the dairy sector. The fund has just been received, however implementing it will take some time before the results are visible on ground.
Dilip Rath, chairman, NDDB, said, “The fund will benefit cooperatives to modernise and expand the processing capacity in a big way.
We advise the milk unions availing loans from the DIDF to complete the projects on time and adopt modern technology to run at a low cost and focus on marketing and diversification to get better returns.” Adding that this would help in improving the quality of milk and milk products.
For improving breeds
Another aspect of the dairy is breed improvement, which has been a uphill task for the government. However, it has announced several such schemes for the subject and recently, the agriculture minister informed that in order to increase production, under the Rashtriya Gokul Mission, 10 semen centres have been identified for the production of sex-sorted semen for the production of more female animals. Also, 20 embryo transfer technology (ETT) centres are being set up for the production of high-genetic merit bulls of indigenous bovine breeds. Besides, Induschip has been developed for genomic selection of indigenous breeds and 6,000 dairy animals have been genetically evaluated using Induschip.
He added that under the flagship scheme, Rashtriya Gokul Mission, the current government, till March 2018, has approved projects worth Rs 1,600 crore in 29 states, out of which Rs 686 crore has been released. Twenty Gokul Grams are also being established under this scheme. Apart from this, for the conservation of indigenous breeds, two National Kamdhenu breeding centres (one in Chintaladevi, Andhra Pradesh, and the other in Itarsi, Madhya Pradesh) are being established.
Meanwhile, according to a study done by rating firm CRISIL, revenue from value-added dairy products (VAP) will grow at a healthy 14-15 per cent, annually over the next three fiscals, or about 50 per cent faster than the overall sector’s growth rate.
“That, along with steady growth in milk sales, should crank up the dairy sector’s revenue to Rs 7.5 lakh crore by fiscal 2021 from Rs 5.7 lakh crore in fiscal 2018,” said CRISIL in a statement.
CRISIL rated over 100 dairy firms, which accounted for about 60 per cent of the organised segment’s revenue.
A study of business profiles of these firms shows rising income levels, changing lifestyles and increasing health and quality-consciousness is leading to higher revenue growth from VAP compared with milk.
“We believe VAP revenues will continue to benefit from rising urbanisation. And with more women joining the workforce, fewer homes would continue the chore of processing milk into curd and butter in the urban and semi-urban areas,” said Anuj Sethi, senior director, CRISIL Ratings.
Procurement infra
CRISIL foresees organised dairies spending about Rs 14,000 crore over the next three fiscals – similar to the previous three fiscals – to enhance processing capacity by 25-30 per cent and strengthen milk procurement infrastructure.
“Prudent funding mix and better cash generation will keep capital structure of organised dairies satisfactory with gearing of one or 1.2 times, in spite of sizeable capex,” said Poonam Upadhyay, associate director, CRISIL Ratings.
According to the report on Indian dairy sector by Edelweiss Securities, India’s dairy industry is expected to maintain 15 per cent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) over the period between 2016 and 2020, and attain value of Rs 9.4 trillion on rising consumerism.
"India’s dairy industry is worth Rs 5.4 trillion by value, having grown at 15 per cent CAGR between 2010 and 2016. Going ahead, the dairy industry is expected to maintain 15 per cent CAGR over the period between 2016 and 20, and attain value of Rs 9.4 trillion on rising consumerism, India has progressed from being deficient in milk production at 20 million metric tonne (MT) in 1970 to becoming the world's largest milk producer at 160 million MT, accounting for 18.5 per cent of global milk production.
The report added, “Going forward, India’s milk production is expected to outperform global production and grow at a similar 4.2 per cent CAGR to 185 million MT per annum, and surpass EU to emerge the largest dairy producer by 2020.”
India’s milk production is estimated to have increased by 6.6 per cent to 176.35 million tonne during the last financial year. Milk production in the country is 165.4 million tonne during 2016-17 and 176.35 million tonne (provisional) during 2017-18.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|