National Dairy Development Board: A Successful Indian Dairy Co-operative Movement

The countries which were inspired by the 'Operation Flood' project and which planned to implement similar projects included Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Philippines and Malaysia, besides a few African nations. Helping other emerging countries establish co-operatives in the dairy industry was one of the elements of the three-pronged strategic plan outlined by Amrita Patel (Patel), who took over as chairman of NDDB in 1999 (after Kurien's 33-year stint). In addition to aiming at capitalizing the success of co-operative-run diaries, the plan also involved transforming India into a major milk exporter and extending the co-operative model to other domestic agricultural products.

As these dairies received their milk supplies through middlemen, who bought milk from milk producers on their behalf, they were not concerned with improving milch animal varieties.

The dairies and the middlemen stood between the milk producers and the ultimate consumers, leading to the exploitation of both.

While the middlemen paid the producers inadequately, the dairies exploited the end customers by charging high prices. With the country's economy gradually moving from an agrarian to an industrialized environment, the population shift to urban areas picked up momentum.