The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) is a statutory body of the Government of India established to promote, finance and support producer-owned and producer-controlled organisations in the dairy sector. Headquartered in Anand, Gujarat, it was created to replicate, on a national scale, the cooperative dairying model pioneered in Anand by the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union (Amul).
| Type | Statutory body of the Government of India |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Anand, Gujarat, India |
| Founded | 1965 |
| Statutory status | National Dairy Development Board Act, 1987 |
| Founding chairman | Verghese Kurien |
| Parent ministry | Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying |
| Sector | Dairy development, cooperatives |
Indian dairying in the mid-20th century was largely unorganised, with farmers dependent on traders and limited access to processing infrastructure. The success of the Kaira Union in Anand, which combined village-level milk producers' cooperatives with modern processing and marketing, demonstrated a viable model for organising milk producers. To extend this approach across India, the Government of India set up the NDDB in 1965 at the initiative of the then Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who placed Verghese Kurien at its helm.
The NDDB initially functioned as a society. Through the National Dairy Development Board Act, 1987, the Board was reconstituted as a statutory body of the Government of India, merging the erstwhile Indian Dairy Corporation with the NDDB. The Act gives the Board powers to plan and promote dairy and related industries on a national basis.
The NDDB is best known for designing and implementing Operation Flood, one of the world's largest rural development programmes. Launched in 1970, it was implemented in three phases:
Operation Flood is widely credited with transforming India from a milk-deficient country into one of the largest milk producers in the world, a transformation often referred to as the White Revolution.
The NDDB works through cooperative federations at the state level and through a network of subsidiaries and associate institutions. Notable entities promoted or supported by the NDDB include:
It also supports state cooperative milk marketing federations such as the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (Amul) and similar bodies in other states.
The National Dairy Plan Phase I (NDP I), implemented by the NDDB with World Bank assistance, focused on increasing productivity of milch animals, improving rural milk procurement infrastructure, and expanding farmer access to organised milk processing. Subsequent phases and successor programmes have continued these themes.
Verghese Kurien served as the founding chairman and led the institution through the Operation Flood years. Subsequent chairpersons have included Amrita Patel, who succeeded Kurien, and later appointees nominated by the Government of India. The Board is headed by a Chairman appointed by the central government and includes representatives of cooperative producers, the central government, and experts.
The NDDB's institutional model — pooling small producers through three-tier cooperatives and linking them to modern processing and urban markets — has been studied internationally as a template for rural producer organisation. Its work contributed to making dairying a major source of supplementary income for millions of rural households, particularly small and marginal farmers and women.