Lok Sabha Question No. 139 (STARRED), answered on 2019-02-12
Subject: Milk and Dairy Products
Ministry: AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE
Asked by: M. K. RAGHAVAN

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE DEPARTMENT OF ANIMAL HUSBANDRY AND DAIRYING LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.139 TO BE ANSWERED ON 12 th  FEBRUARY, 2019

## MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS

- *139. SHRI M.K. RAGHAVAN:

Will the Minister of AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE कृ षि और ककसान कल्याण मंत्री be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there is any proposal to discard the idea of creating a buffer stock for milk and dairy products by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB);
- (b) whether it is a fact that huge quantum of skimmed milk powder and other dairy products will remain unsold due to this decision and if so, the details thereof; and
- (c) the  criteria  for  pricing  various  products  sold  by  NDDB  and  also  the  pricing  pattern  on purchases made from private players by NDDB along with the details thereof?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE AND FARMERS WELFARE (SHRI RADHA MOHAN SINGH)

(a) to (c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.139 PART (a) TO (c) ON 'MILK AND DAIRY PRODUCTS' TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.02.2019.

(a) No Madam, Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying  is implementing a scheme named  'Supporting  State  Cooperative  Dairy  Federation  (SSDF)'  to  provide  soft  loan  for working  capital  to  the  Dairy  Cooperatives  to  help  them  maintain  buffer  stocks  of  dairy commodities.  The  scheme  is  to  be  implemented  by  National  Dairy  Development  Board (NDDB).

The objectives of the scheme are:-

- (i) To assist the State Dairy Cooperative Federations by providing soft working capital loan to tide over the crisis on account of severely adverse market conditions or natural calamities.
- (ii) To provide stable market access to the dairy farmers.
- (iii) To enable State Cooperative Dairy Federations to continue to make timely payments of dues to the farmers.
- (iv) To enable the cooperatives to procure milk at a remunerative price from the farmers, even during the flush season.

Under the scheme, a corpus of Rs. 300 crore is to be kept in perpetuity with NDDB.  The budgetary allocation for implementation of the scheme during 2018-19 is Rs.3.00 crore (RE) and Rs.100 crore during 2019-20 under the scheme.

(b) It is not correct to say that lack of creation of buffer stocks  lead to creation of huge quantum of skimmed milk powder (SMP) and other dairy products. Buffer stock of  SMP are created when milk is not sold in market and is converted to SMP & White Butter to save them  from  getting  spoilt.  For  selling  the  stock  of  SMP,  the  Government  has  announced exports  incentives  under  Merchandize  Exports  from  India  Scheme  (MEIS)  and  other measures  by  Government  of  India  as  well  as  from  respective  State  Governments,  some quantity of stocks of dairy commodities have been exported by cooperatives. This has led to reduction  in  pressure  of  stocks  on  domestic  milk  producers.  Keeping  in  view  the  present situation of milk production and consumption, the stocks of skimmed milk powder and other dairy products are manageable. The details of measures taken by the Government to stabilise the stocks of dairy products are as under;

- i. Increased the import duty of Whey Powder from 30% to 40% vide notification dated 27.03.2018.
- ii. D/o Commerce vide notification dated 13.07.2018 has allowed 10% export incentive under  Merchandise  Export  from  India  Scheme  (MEIS)  for  all  dairy  products. Further,  vide  Public  Notice  40/2015-2020  dated  27.09.2018  had  enhanced  MEIS benefit  to  20%  from  the  current  10%  for  certain  dairy  products  from  the  date  of publication of this Public Notice to 12.01.2019.
- iii. Advisory  to  all  the  States  to  include  supply  of  milk/milk  products  of  Cooperatives through  Mid-day  Meal  Scheme,  Anganwadis  under  Integrated  Child  Development Scheme  (ICDS), Health schemes, Tribal Hostels and Government/Institutional canteen.
- iv. State Governments of Gujarat and Maharashtra have announced to provide subsidy of Rs 50/Kg for skim Milk Powder .

During the current financial year 2018-19, the stock of SMP with dairy cooperatives has declined from 1.82 Lakh Metric Tonnes on March 2018 to 1.20 Lakh Metric Tonnes in December 2018 after reaching a peak of 2.08 Lakh Metric Tonnes in May 2018.

Quarter-wise details of stocks of SMP and White Butter with dairy cooperatives in India is as follows:

| Quarter ending   | SMP Stock (MT)   | White Butter (MT)   |
|------------------|------------------|---------------------|
| Mar-2018         | 1,81,912         | 73,703              |
| Jun-2018         | 1,71,463         | 90,715              |
| Sep-2018         | 1,50,740         | 76,133              |
| Dec-2018         | 1,20,220         | 79,804              |

Source: Milk Unions & Federations/NDDB

- (c) National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) doesn't take part in purchase or sale of any dairy products.

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