At the recently concluded annual session of the International Dairy Federation’s World Dairy Summit in the scenic city of Daejeon in South Korea, India was the toast of the world. From a largely captive market—despite being the world’s largest milk producer—the country is emerging as a major exporter now, with production poised to outstrip domestic consumption soon. While world milk production during 2017 stood at 849 MMT (million metric tonnes) or 232 crore litres per day, India alone accounted for almost 20% of this, at 174 MMT, followed by the US with 97.7 MMT. Going ahead, India’s milk production is expected to outperform global production and grow to 185 MMT per annum, and surpass the EU to emerge as the largest dairy producer by 2020. Milk is the largest crop in India in terms of value; it’s valued at around Rs.6.5 lakh crore, which is more than the total value of paddy and wheat put together. It is contributing around 26% to total agriculture GDP. What is more significant, however, is the fact that the dairy industry is expected to overtake the information technology sector as the largest employment generator.

(Financial Express)