The government expects that the demand of milk is likely to be around 150 million tonnes by 2016-17. This information was given in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today by the Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Dr Charan Das Mahant. He said the government has launched the first Phase of the National Dairy Plan (NDP-1) in March this year with an outlay of 2,242 crore rupees.

The objective of the 5-year-plan is to increase the productivity of milch animals and thereby increase milk production. It is also aimed at providing rural milk producers with greater access to the organized milk-processing sector.