Vadodara/Anand: Union home minister and minister of cooperation Amit Shah on Sunday launched the Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited (SPCDF), a new multi-state cooperative federation that will unite 20 lakh farmers from 20 states under a single unified umbrella.TOI reported on Sunday that a fresh chapter in India's cooperative sector was being scripted from ‘milk city' Anand with the formation of SPCDF, a venture of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets the $11 billion brand Amul."The Sardar Patel Cooperative Dairy Federation will help farmers at a level that Amul does by engaging in fair practices of procuring milk and providing appropriate pricing," said Shah after unveiling the logo of Amul's new venture at a function at Amul Dairy.This event marked the completion of four years since the formation of the ministry of cooperation. Representatives of milk producers from 20 states, other than Gujarat, from where Amul procures milk, were present at the gathering. The new federation will have an initial corpus of Rs 200 crore."Today, 36 lakh in Gujarat and 20 lakh more across India power Amul's operations. Thanks to their efforts, Amul's current turnover stands at Rs 80,000 crore.

Next year, we will cross Rs 1 lakh crore — and the profit will go straight into the accounts of 56 lakh women," said Shah. He stressed that the cooperative model was not about enriching individuals but uplifting entire communities, with Amul standing as a model of inclusive economic success.The new cooperative federation will bring together dairy farmers from nearly 20,000 small and big unregistered milk cooperatives in 20 states on a single platform.

Of the 300 lakh litres of milk collected by GCMMF and its 18 member unions daily, 20% of the milk comes from 20 different states outside Gujarat.TOI reported that the new multi-state cooperative federation, which will be governed under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act, 2002, was being formed in the year that marks the International Year of Cooperatives as declared by the United Nations, and the fourth year of the formation of the ministry of cooperation.

The year also marks 150th birth anniversary year of Sardar Patel, who sowed the seeds of Amul.The governing structure of the new federation will comprise multiple stakeholders, including a GCMMF representative (20% equity), representatives of 10 milk unions of Gujarat (60% equity), and three board members representing farmers from outside Gujarat (20% equity).