Gujarat plans women-run Amul milk parlours in 18,000 villages

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel said on Saturday, 10 October 2026, at an event in Rajkot that the state plans to set up Amul milk parlours run by women in 18,000 villages. The plan rests on a memorandum of understanding between the Gujarat Livelihood Promotion Company (GLPC), the state agency that works with women's self-help groups, and Amul. At the same event, parlour allotment letters were handed over, a separate three-way agreement was signed to support women milk producers, and 136 Gram Haats, small sales outlets for self-help group products, were opened at bus stations across 27 districts.

Dairy is one of the few rural businesses that pays cash every day or every week, and in Gujarat much of the work of feeding and milking animals is already done by women. What women usually do not control is the selling end: the shop, the customer and the margin that comes with retail. A parlour in the village moves a woman from supplying milk to running a small outlet that sells Amul's packaged range, which can add a steady trading income on top of what the household earns from its animals.

The scale is what stands out. Gujarat has roughly 18,000 villages, so the target implies a branded retail point in almost every one of them. If even a part of that is built, it would give the cooperative a far denser rural sales network and give self-help groups a ready business model rather than a loan with no clear use. Officials have not yet given a timeline, a budget or the number of parlours that will open in the first phase, so the figure is best read as a goal rather than a funded programme.

The second agreement deals with the supply side. Many small women producers lose income because animals fall sick, are poorly fed or produce little milk. Bringing the Animal Husbandry Department's veterinary and breeding services into the same framework as the self-help group network and the dairy cooperatives is meant to raise yields per animal, while GLPC's role is to connect women with bank credit to buy livestock and equipment.

The Gram Haats at bus stations follow the same idea of putting rural women's products where buyers already pass. Partners named for the wider effort include the state transport corporation, the Railways, Amul, several banks and training institutions.

Short-term: Self-help groups that received allotment letters and cash credit can begin setting up parlours and buying stock or equipment. The Gram Haats give Sakhi Mandal members new sales points ahead of the festive season.

Long-term: If the parlour network grows towards its target, Amul gains a deeper retail reach in villages and women gain a business that does not depend on the size of their herd. Better animal care under the tripartite MoU could raise milk output per animal, which matters more to small producers than adding animals.

Who is affected: Women in Gujarat's self-help groups and dairy cooperatives, village milk producers, Amul and its member unions, banks lending to self-help groups, and rural consumers who would get a nearby outlet for packaged dairy products.

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