Advantage India

Some images stay with you. One of mine dates back several decades, to a village in Rajasthan. I remember waking up very early, while mist still hung over the settlement, to trek to a nearby dairy that I thought would be out of western films; rows of cows and buffaloes being milked by hand (this was before the age of the automatic milking machines). Instead, we arrived at a rather unremarkable building. Inside, women wrapped in traditional shawls stood in a queue. One by one, they placed their utensils on a small weighing machine, received a printed slip and poured the milk into a large container.

None of them could read or write. Yet, they showed me, with confidence, that the slip recorded not just the quantity of milk supplied but also its fat content, which determined how much they would be paid. The containers were swiftly loaded onto smaller vehicles that moved from village to village, collecting milk before delivering it to district or state dairies. This is the famous Amul model, now replicated across India. A dairy with many cows or a household owning one or two, all could be part of the cooperative.

That image feels relevant today, as the world drifts towards an economic order shaped by rivalry and built on the tombstones of globalisation. In this emerging order, as I wrote in my column last issue, each country has to secure its own future, drawing on domestic resources and economic strengths. So, it is time we too drilled down on what is the best way for us to grow, and why its path must differ from that of the old rich world, which is struggling to find its economic relevance.

Let’s stay with dairy. The western approach to the sector has been no different from the rest of economy — it is about scale, industrial enterprise, heavy mechanisation and heavy use of external inputs. The logic is deliciously simple: larger operations produce more, so that you can sell more and generate higher returns.

Such gains came at a price. Increased reliance on external inputs, such as pesticides and antibiotics led to environmental contamination and food-safety issues. Regulation followed, pushing costs up further. To keep milk affordable, governments stepped in with subsidies. But the problem has compounded as milk supply now outpaces demand. So, producers need new markets.

The result is today’s skirmish over which country opens their market to this distortedly priced product and over how such imports would impact domestic production and their farmers. European farmers say the European Union-Mercosur trade agreement will put them out of business — Latin American farmers after all have perfected intensive industrial farming. In India, the most contentious issues in recent trade agreements with the EU and United States are agriculture and dairy. Rightly so.

This is why we need to understand how India’s dairy model is different and critical for economic security and how this can be part of our dif-ferently modelled future.

Today, India produces a quarter of the world’s milk, making it the largest producer globally. Economic Survey 2025-26 noted that India’s livestock sector has grown by 7 per cent over the past decade, second only to fishing and aquaculture. This output does not come from a handful of corporate giants, but millions of households engaged in dairying — like the women from the Rajasthan village. This growth is unique, as it directly puts money in the hands of people allowing them to invest in their well-being and becoming consumers — of the increased milk produced.

This economic model has two other components. One, it is about keeping costs low, so that food is affordable for consumers while leaving more money in farmers’ hands. This is partly inbuilt.

Household-level production in backyard dairying keeps labour costs low. But more can be done. Now the world is recognising the value of free-range animals. Indian farmers traditionally practise a silvo-agro-pastoral system, in which natural fodder is available through land management and manure is used to fertilise the soil, adding to productivity. We need to build on this method.

The second component is restrained use of inputs. In industrial systems, disease management is a major cost, driven by high animal density and routine use of antibiotics. Indian farmers prevent diseases through their practices of stocking and animal care. The National Dairy Devel-opment Board also ensures reduced use of antibiotics by promoting traditional home-practices. Such practices when scaled up will put money in the hands of farmers and deliver affordable food.

None of this will work without a model of home-grown consumption, if production is geared mainly to exports. Today, we have vibrant local markets and milk consumption is rising. Distributing income through locally produced business sustains those markets. But this "milk" market faces competition from processed and ultra-processed foods, including soft drinks and juices with no real fruit. Let’s own this model, put more money in the hands of the poorest through the entrepreneurship of millions.

This editorial was originally published in the February 16-28, 2026 print edition of Down To Earth