AMUL India

Case Study

India announced a total lockdown to contain COVID virus beginning 25

March but Amul was already geared up to prevent any disruptions to what
Sodhi dubs its C2C (Cow to consumer) and B2C (buffalo to consumer)
supply chain. That chain is a mammoth one. The Gujarat Cooperative Milk
Marketing Federation or GCMMF, which sells its products under the Amul
brand, is owned by 3.6 million farmers. Of these, around 2.6 million farmers
bring their milk twice daily to 18,600 village societies from where chilled
milk is transported to district milk unions for processing into packaged milk
and value-added products. The products then reach over a billion consumers
daily via 10,000 distributors and a million retailers.

“More than a week before the lockdown was announced, we began

preparations by intensively planning with supply chain partners," said
Sodhi. Social distancing norms were introduced in village societies
beginning 17 March along with new sanitization protocols.

Soon after the lockdown was in place, Amul announced cash incentives for
dairy plant workers, drivers, sales executives, distributors and retailers.
While casual workers received between ₹100 to ₹125 extra cash support for
working during a pandemic, distributors got an extra 35 paisa incentive per
litre of milk. Food and stay arrangements were made for workers inside
dairy plants to avert any labour shortages.

Simultaneously, the company reached out to the Union home ministry and
state animal husbandry departments to arrange passes for its workers and
ensure that empty trucks were allowed to return (after delivering milk
products).
To ensure uninterrupted supply of packaging materials, it engaged with
district collectors where packaging factories were located. Amul even
arranged for cattle feed to be transported from states like Punjab and
Haryana for its farmers in Gujarat. Close to 45% of its products were moved
via freight trains, which cut down transit time. It takes pride in the fact that
not a single case of infection was reported among plant workers. And not a
single litre of milk was wasted. The plant could seamlessly handle over
500,000 litres of milk it received daily.

Answer the following questions:

a) Identify the micro environmental factors, as discussed in the case study

here, which Amul coordinated to stay relevant during COVID.

b) Amul navigated successfully through the trying times of the pandemic

and was profitable. Examine this statement from the viewpoint of an
integrated plan to achieve success.

c) Illustrate the macro factor illustrated in the case study here and the extent
to which it caused disruptions in the business of AMUL.