DDGS & Sorghum Imports: Impact on Feed and Maize Prices
In a significant development under the India-US interim trade framework, India has agreed to allow duty-free imports of dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) and red sorghum from the United States. The move has sparked intense debate among stakeholders across the livestock, feed and farming ecosystems, with divergent views on its influence on feed costs,…
Budget 2026: Highest Allocation Ever, Yet Dairy Farmers Still Wait
As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2026–27 in Parliament on 1 February 2026, the government reiterated its commitment to agriculture and allied sectors — including animal husbandry, dairying and livestock — as engines of rural employment and farm incomes. While the budget speech highlighted interventions across fisheries, entrepreneurship and ecosystem support, a…
How a fridge could unlock modern dairy cattle breeding
A Hiroshima University-led project has secured a $1.8 million grant from the Gates Foundation to develop a way to store bull semen using simple refrigeration instead of costly liquid nitrogen, a shift that could remove a major barrier to modern dairy cattle breeding that has long excluded farmers in low-resource regions. If successful, the technology…
Economic Survey 2026: Why Dairy Holds the Key to Farm Incomes
The Economic Survey 2025–26 quietly but clearly reinforces a reality that those working closely with rural India already know: dairy is no longer just a subsidiary activity to agriculture, it is the backbone of income security for millions of small and marginal farmers. As crop agriculture becomes increasingly vulnerable to climate variability, market volatility and…
Two Stocks Powering India’s Rs 1-Lakh-Crore Protein Boom
Protein consumption in India is moving beyond supplements and fitness products into daily food choices. Awareness around nutrition has increased, but intake remains uneven. Parag Milk Foods Ltd. estimates that nearly 80% of India’s population is protein deficient, pointing to a gap between dietary needs and consumption. This gap is expected to narrow as food…
5 Year Budget Plan to Make Indian Dairy Global Leader in 2047
I recently moderated a key session on India Dairy Vision 2047 at the TPCI’s International Dairy Processing Conference 2026, gaining valuable insights from panellists. This led to me developing policy recommendations for the upcoming Budget 2026-2027. Hard Realities faced by dairy even after 78 years of independence India’s dairy journey in the 20th century, under the visionary leadership of Dr…
From Forecast to Fact: 2025 Lessons, 2026 Dairy Outlook
As we step into 2026, it is worth pausing to reflect on how the Indian dairy sector navigated the challenges of 2025 and how closely reality tracked the forecasts I outlined in the first blog of last year. 2025-dynamic-year-ahead-indian-dairy In January 2025, the central thesis was clear — Indian dairying would confront seasonal volatility, heat-induced…
India–NZ Dairy FTA: Safeguards or Silent Slippages?
The recently concluded India–New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (FTA) marks an important milestone in bilateral trade, while carefully ring-fencing India’s sensitive dairy sector. Under the agreement, core dairy products such as milk, cream, butter, cheese, yoghurt, whey and casein remain excluded from duty-free access, reflecting India’s long-standing policy to protect millions of small dairy farmers….
Vision 2047: India’s Dairy Development Roadmap
As India moves steadily toward Vision 2047, the dairy sector stands at a strategic inflection point. From being a food security instrument in the decades following Independence, dairy has evolved into the single largest agricultural economic activity, engaging over 8 crore rural households and contributing nearly 5% to India’s Gross Value Added (GVA). With milk…
Global Dairy Dynamics: Innovation, Sustainability & Inclusion
The International Dairy Processing Conference (IDPC) 2026, organised by the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) at Yashobhoomi Convention Centre, Dwarka, New Delhi on 7 January 2026, will serve as a landmark forum uniting global dairy leaders to shape the future of dairy processing, trade and sustainability. The event brings together policymakers, industry pioneers, researchers…