India’s annual per-capita protein consumption is projected to more than triple from 9.5 kg in 2025 to 30 kg by 2070, with dairy expected to provide most of the additional animal protein. Protein obtained from milk is forecast to rise from less than 5 million tonnes to 13.3 million tonnes, while annual per-person milk-protein consumption could increase from 1.63 kg in 1990 to 13.1 kg by 2070, driven by rising household incomes, urbanisation, population growth and changing dietary preferences.
The projected increase in dairy protein demand is significant because India’s dairy sector already relies heavily on smallholder households, with the country currently producing about 248 million tonnes of liquid milk annually. National milk production increased 63.6% between 2014 and 2024, while bovine productivity rose 27.4%, but the sector continues to face seasonal feed shortages, uneven veterinary access and high methane emissions per animal.
Meeting future protein demand will therefore require more than simply producing more milk. The report highlights genetic improvement, balanced feed rations and methane-reducing feed additives as potential routes to improve animal productivity while protecting smallholder farmer incomes.
The sustainability challenge is equally significant: annual emissions from protein supply chains could reach 1.92 gigatonnes of CO₂-equivalent by 2070, compared with climate-aligned thresholds of 0.25 gigatonnes. Agriculture currently accounts for about 14% of India’s greenhouse-gas emissions, with livestock responsible for more than half of that total, making productivity and emissions efficiency critical to the dairy sector’s long-term growth.
Source: Dairynews7x7 12 Sep, 2026 Read full story here
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