The country produced 74.3 million tonnes (MT) in 1997 to occupy the second position in the world after USA. This is equivalent to 203.5 million litres. However, the milk requirement for the Indian population, on the other hand, was at 85.14 MT with a shortage of more than 10 MT.

In 1998 the milk production is likely to go up to 78 MT and India is slated to overtake USA in total milk production during this year. The annual growth of milk production in India is 5.6 per cent and is likely to touch 86.8 MT by the year 2,000.

At present the availability of milk per capita per day stands at 214 gm. The Indian Council of Medical Research has recommended an intake of 250 gm of milk per day. The per capita availability is likely to reach 240 gm by 2001.

The region-wise milk availability figuresshow that the population in the northern part of the country is much better off in this respect with 278 gm milk available per person per day. In the west it is 174 gm whereas in the south it is 148 gm and in the eastern part of the country only 93 gm of milk per person is available per day.

The average availability of milk, (now at 214 gm per person per day) was at 174 gm in 1989-90 and rose to 206 gm in 1995-96. Huge quantities of skimmed milk powder is imported in India both by the government owned dairies and the private sector, which is then reconstituted as and mixed with milk for distribution.

The National Dairy Development Board sources said, "Though the amount being imported by the public sector has come down drastically over the last decade, liberalisation has allowed private imports and that has grown very fast."

According to one estimate, the country still imports around 200 tonnes of milk powder per year. However, actual figures may be much higher. India has a bovine population of 200million of which milch bovine population is around 96 million. This comprises 57 million milch cows and 39 million milch buffaloes.

While a cow produces three to four kilograms of milk per day a buffalo produces six to seven kg of milk per day. Buffalo milk also has a higher fat-count.

Among the other problems in the Indian dairy industry is the fact that cows in India have a longer calving cycle, almost always 100 days longer than the desired calving cycle of 365 days.

The other issue is the age of the animal at first calving. On average Indian cows are around four to five years old at the time of first calving. However, the ideal age for first calving for most Indian cows is slightly less than three years. As a result of this the amount of milk produced by a cow in its life cycle is also reduced.