Amul has forayed into the edible oils category in Gujarat and Rajasthan, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for Atma Nirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India. With the launch of Janmay range of edible oils, the company looks to reduce India’s edible oil dependency while also helping local farmers. “GCMMF is happy to launch “Janmay” range of edible oils in Gujarat to provide remunerative prices to edible oilseeds growers in Banas, North Gujarat and South Gujarat,” RS Sodhi, Managing Director, Amul, tweeted on Thursday. Currently, India is heavily dependent on foreign countries for the import of cooking oil, which is one of the chief food ingredients in every household and food industry, and imports about 65% of its total consumption.
Also Read: Amul’s Panchamrit for temples; makes it easier, hygienic for devotees amid coronavirus
Amul for some time has been talking about the sorry state of India’s edible oil industry. In an interview to Financial Express Online earlier in January 2020, RS Sodhi said that milk will have a similar fate as edible oil if the country does not check imports from foreign countries. “Till the 90s, we were more or less self-sufficient in edible oil. Now, 70% of our consumption is imported,” he said, back in January.
India had liberalized edible oils imports regardless of the fact that the country had over 90% self-sufficiency in the category. This was at the cost of domestic producers and India now is world’s largest importer of edible oils spending around Rs. 75,000 crore annually on foreign exchange on imports.
“Our country is highly dependent on imported oils with around 65% of oils consumed is imported oils as the trend is skewed towards refined oils. Indigenous oils like Groundnut oil, Mustard oil contribute around 25% of total oil consumption in India,” the company said in a statement. The farmers from which Amul sources its milk are not just dairy farmers but some of them also cultivate oil seeds like groundnut, cottonseed, mustard etc in Gujarat, giving Amul a headstart in the category.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been pushing to make India self-reliant and boost domestic production under the ‘Vocal for Local’ initiative. Amul said that the launch of Janmay is “a noble step” on PM Modi’s call for ‘Atmanirbharata’. Janmay oil range includes groundnut oil, cottonseed oil, sunflower oil, mustard oil and soybean oil which will retail in 1 litre pouch, 5 litre jar and 15 kg tin packing. Amul is manufacturing the edible oils at a new facility in Panalpur, North Gujarat.
