Mumbaikars caught in web of milk suppliers

A study in Mumbai has shown that certain milk dairies supplying milk to the city virtually have a monopoly in fixed areas within the city.
Consumers are aware that there are at least ten to twelve major suppliers of milk in the city, but rarely if ever do they get milk from the dairy of their choice from the retailer who delivers milk to the doorstep.

When a consumer asks for a local milk supplier to deliver a particular manufacturer’s milk to the doorstep, the most likely answer the consumer is likely to get is that “in this area, that particular brand of milk is not available”.

The real reason, however, is that there are major distributors in each area who decide which brand of milk will sell in a certain area. The incentive for this segregation varies again, from greater margins in the sale of the particular brand, the bargaining capacity of the distributor if he picks larger volumes from a particular brand and
the nitty-gritty of keeping multiple accounts with multiple brands offered.

This act prevents the consumer the right of choice and the right to gauge for himself the quality and nature the milk available in Mumbai.

Dilution of milk with water and then adding substances to it to make it thicker and sweeter has now become a fine art with the milk mafia. Raids carried out by the Food and Drugs Administration have revealed that the milk dropped at fixed points is often carried away to nearby chawls and hutments, where a systematic parallel adulteration industry works for a couple of hours to slice open the sealed packet of milk, dilute its contents and seal it.

Consumers have no alternative to fight this ‘group extortion’ by the milk vendors than to unite and insist on the milk brand of their choice. Multiple direct outlets by the manufacturers will help in this fight to get the Mumbaikar his daily supply of fresh, safe milk.