Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Friday announced a plan to set up Amul milk parlours run by women in 18,000 villages across Gujarat. He made the announcement at a Sakhi Mandal event in Rajkot on the eve of Navratri, where the Gujarat Livelihood Promotion Company (GLPC) signed an agreement with Amul to take the plan forward, according to Indian Masterminds and IANS (via The Hans India).
The same event opened about 136 Gram Haats, small retail counters at state transport bus stations in 27 districts, where self-help groups can sell food and handicrafts. Gujarat First reported the bus-station count and the 18,000-village parlour target, and listed the institutions (EDII, NIFT and MICA) that will mentor women who want to sell online.
Why 18,000 is a big number
Gujarat has a little over 18,000 villages in the 2011 Census. A target of 18,000 parlours therefore implies one in nearly every village, a far wider reach than Amul’s existing retail footprint, which sits mostly in towns, highway stretches and city markets.
The milk already flows through those villages. When Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation marked its golden jubilee in 2024, the Prime Minister’s Office put its network at more than 18,000 village milk cooperatives and about 36 lakh farmers. Women do most of the daily work of feeding animals and milking them. Very few of them hold the retail end of the chain, the counter where packaged milk, butter, buttermilk and ice cream get sold at a margin.
The parlour plan tries to close that gap. A woman who pours milk into the cooperative can, in principle, also earn the retailer’s cut on Amul products sold in her own village.
What it means for women in Sakhi Mandals
The state links the plan to its “Lakhpati Didi” drive, which counts women in self-help groups who earn at least Rs 1 lakh a year. Patel said more than 8.5 lakh women in Gujarat have reached that mark so far, against a national goal of six crore by 2029. Officials at the event reportedly distributed Amul parlour allotment letters and about Rs 40 lakh in cash credit cheques to dairy-related groups.
If you belong to a Sakhi Mandal and want a parlour, the practical questions are still open:
- Capital: a parlour needs a freezer, a refrigerator and a stocked counter. The announcement did not say whether GLPC, Amul or banks will fund the setup, or on what terms.
- Demand: many villages already buy loose milk directly from neighbours. Packaged dairy and ice cream sell best where there is footfall, such as a bus stop, school or highway junction.
- Power supply: cold storage depends on steady electricity, which varies across remote talukas.
- Selection: neither report spelt out how groups will be chosen or which districts come first.
The numbers do not all line up
Ministers at the event gave different counts. Patel spoke of about 2.5 lakh Sakhi Mandals with roughly 30 lakh women, while Agriculture Minister Jitu Vaghani put the number of groups above three lakh, according to Indian Masterminds. No outlet reported a budget, a deadline or a count of parlours already open. For now, the 18,000 figure is a target, and readers should treat it that way.
What to watch
The GLPC and Amul agreement should produce operating guidelines: eligibility, loan support, the margin a woman-run parlour keeps, and a phased district list. The first useful test will come when the state reports how many parlours actually open, and how many are still trading a year later. The Gram Haats at bus stations offer an earlier check, since sales there will show whether self-help groups can hold a retail counter in a busy public space.
Sources: Gujarat First, Indian Masterminds, IANS via The Hans India, PMO (GCMMF golden jubilee, 2024)
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.