RS Sodhi steps down as Amul MD; Jayen Mehta given interim charge

Jayen Mehta appointed as interim MD with immediate effect of Amul

R S Sodhi, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the owner of India’s biggest dairy brand Amul, has stepped down with immediate effect. Chief operating officer Jayen Mehta has been named interim managing director.

Sodhi, who worked for Amul since 1982, was at the helm of affairs since 2010. Under his leadership, GCMMF’s turnover surged from Rs 9,774.2 crore in 2010-11 to Rs 46,481 crore in 2021-22. 

After stepping down, Sodhi told Business Standard: “I was given an extension for two years and now I have resigned from the post of MD of Amul. I will continue to stay at Anand and will work with the Indian Dairy Association where I hold an honorary post.”

According to some media reports, Sodhi was asked to resign and hand over the charge to Mehta, who has been with the Federation for 30 years, with immediate effect.

In a note on Sodhi, the co-operative said: “He has been responsible for creating the current structure of Amul, enabling the organisation to maintain and enhance its leadership status within the Indian dairy industry.” 

Before taking over as MD, Sodhi was general marketing manager in the 2000s.

For more than three decades, Sodhi worked under the direct guidance of Verghese Kurien, the father of the White Revolution. He obtained a bachelor’s degree in agri-engineering from CTAE, Udaipur, and he is among the first-batch alumni of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (Irma).

During the pandemic, under Sodhi’s leadership, Amul launched over 100 stock-keeping units.

It also launched from immunity-boosting milk in variants of turmeric, ginger, and tulsi. It added sweets like mohanthal, barfi, kaju katli, and laddoo to Amul’s catalogue. 

So far, Amul has launched more than 100 products across dairy and non-dairy categories since Covid.

GCMMF procures 30 million litres of milk per day from over 18,600 village dairy co-operative societies.

It is noted that Kurien, reportedly giving in to mounting pressure from the GCMMF board, resigned as its chairman in 2013 at the age of 85. At a press conference held then in Anand, which is the headquarter of Amul, he said: “My decision is in deference to the recent order passed by the Gujarat High Court on the issue of co-option of members on the management committee of the co-operative bodies in the state. Therefore, I have taken the decision, believing in the rule of law and principles of co-operatives.”