One of the defining characteristics of the Indian dairy sector is the small herd size among dairy farmers. Given this, milk aggregation plays a crucial role in ensuring efficient marketing. Producer-Owned Institutions (POIs) facilitate the aggregation of milk from thousands of dairy farmers, providing them with direct market access and ensuring the best possible returns. For POIs to thrive as successful marketing organisations, key factors such as skilled manpower, an efficient organisational structure, a robust distribution network, and strong consumer patronage are essential.

With increasing competition, dairy cooperatives had been urging NDDB to extend support in marketing activities. The primary objective is to provide sales and marketing support to the cooperative dairy sector to strengthen their marketing functions. NDDB has undertaken several initiatives to enhance the marketing capabilities of POIs, including:

• Brand Development: Assisting POIs in strengthening their brands
• Support to strengthen Distribution infrastructure and Cold Chain Logistics
• Product Portfolio Management: Supporting POIs in developing a well-balanced product portfolio.
• Market Research & Strategy: Providing guidance on conducting market research for diagnostic analysis and strategy formulation.
• Capacity Building: Offering training support to enhance the skills of POI manpower.
• Professionalization: Assisting in the deployment of professional manpower and helping the POIs in defining the structure and systems of the sales and marketing function.
• Sales & Distribution Support: Strategic guidance for the development of sales and distribution functions of the POIs.

Milk unions have been experiencing challenges in sales and marketing of milk & milk products following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the pandemic, considering the challenges faced by the small dairy cooperatives, NDDB has launched a marketing support scheme in 2021, “Support to Strengthen Marketing Operations of Producer-Owned Institutions (POIs)” scheme, aimed at enhancing the marketing capabilities of smaller POIs to help them expand their market share in milk and milk products.