Amul emerges as leading Asian brand

New Delhi, Sep 10: Amul, the Gujarat-based Rs 22 billion gigantic cooperative of milk producers, has emerged as the leading brand in Asia, according to a survey conducted by the Global Market Research organisation Synovate to find out Asia's top 1000 Brands.

The research was conducted in nine markets -- India, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

The survey covered 12 major products and service categories.

Synovate interviewed people aged between 15 and 64 years.

Amul (Anand Milk-producers Union Limited), formed in 1946, is jointly owned by some 2.41 million milk producers in Anand, Gujarat and has emerged as an example of phenomenal success in co-operative organisation.

Owned by 26 lakh milk producers of Gujarat, it has demonstrated that when farmers are given the instruments of development in their hands, they can work wonders.

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation, the apex body of 13 district milk producers' unions, has been instrumental in making Amul a brand to reckon with.

GCMMF, which ended 2006-07 with a sales turnover of Rs. 4,278 crore, launched a number of products during the past two years.

''Co-operation amongst Co-operatives to serve the interests of the milk producers and providing quality products to consumers ensuring value for money has been the backbone of Amul. This brings a lot of passion and energy in the system which has now been recognised and reported by the consumers through this survey,'' Mr B M Vyas, Managing Director, GCMMF, says.

Amul's strategy of using ''umbrella branding'' has paid off, according to Mr R S Sodhi, Chief General Manager, GCMMF.

''Our strength comes from consistency, trust and relevance of our products,'' he said, claiming that Amul's advertising and marketing spend had never exceeded one per cent of its revenues.

The umbrella branding strategy ensures that Amul remains positioned as the common brand for most product categories produced by various unions: liquid milk, milk powders, butter, ghee, cheese, cocoa products, sweets, ice-cream and condensed milk.

Amul has spurred the White Revolution of India, which has made the country the largest producer of milk and milk products in the world. It is also the world's biggest vegetarian cheese brand Its product range includes milk powders, milk, butter, clarified butter (ghee), cheese, curd, chocolate, ice cream, shrikhand, paneer, gulab jamuns and Nutramul brand.

It is the largest food brand in India and world's Largest Pouched Milk Brand. Besides India, Amul has entered overseas markets such as Mauritius, the UAE, the US, Bangladesh, Australia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong and a few South African countries.

Amul products are available in over 500,000 retail outlets across the country through its network of over 3,500 distributors. There are 47 depots with dry and cold warehouses to buffer inventory of the entire range of products.

UNI