YES Bank, India’s fourth largest private sector bank, in association with the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), has organized a dairy delegation to Australia during 16-20 June 2014. The visit is aimed to facilitate cooperation between the two countries in the areas of Agri-Dairy business services, including Dairy Technology & Automation, Pasture & Grazing Management, Crop Soil & Water Management, Modern Dairy Farm Management, as well as milk processing, dairy products, and education and training.
Said Rana Kapoor, MD & CEO, YES Bank, “There is an imminent need to adopt an innovative approach to dairy farming models in India so that they are sustainable, inclusive and scalable in nature. Indian Agriculture and Dairy sectors offer several lucrative synergies and joint development opportunities between Indian and Australia, which is a global leader in the Dairy sector. The delegation will foster avenues for technology transfer and increased investment and cooperation with Australia.”
The delegation comprises key people from cooperative and private dairy sector companies in India, and include ITC, VRS Foods (Paras Dairy), Gopaljee Dairy, Lakshya Food, Amul, SMC Creamy Foods, Asad Farms, Deshpande Foundation, and Kiaro Farms. Austrade has organized interactions with leading Australian dairy farming, processing technology, waste management, breeding and genetics companies, as well as research institutions in Melbourne and Brisbane.
India is the world’s largest milk producer accounting for approximately 18% (139 million tons) of the world’s total milk production. The per capita availability of milk has increased from 176 grams per day in 1990-91 to 290 grams per day in 2011-12, comparable with the world’s milk per capita availability of 289 grams per day for 2011. Average productivity of Indian cattle stands at 1,170 litres per year. Strong farm gate prices supported by growth of the Indian economy and the rising domestic demand for value-added dairy products are factors contributing to increased milk production. The annual demand for milk and milk products is growing at 6% to 7% by volume and industry estimates demand to reach around 200 million tons by 2021-22. Despite this growth, Indian dairy industry is still facing challenges of low milk yield, lack of infrastructure, improper veterinary services and rising feed/fodder cost.
With only 2% of global milk production (9.2 million tons), Australia is the world’s 4th largest dairy exporter accounting for 7% of world dairy trade. The dairy industry is the country’s third largest rural industry with a national herd size of 1.6 million cows and 40,000+ people directly employed on dairy farms and plants. The per capita consumption of drinking milk in Australia is 107 litres. International comparisons indicate that Australian farms operate with low cost of production and average annual milk yield per cow is 5,525 litres. Due to these factors Australia has become a lucrative destination to explore latest developments in the dairy industry as well as for trade & technology transfer.
The delegation will help in promoting the various trade and investment opportunities, as well as in exploring tangible collaboration avenues in dairy technology, processing & farming, for Indian entities with their Australian counterparts.
