Chennai: Dairy major, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Limited (GCMMF), will set up and run dairy plant in Sri Lanka at an outlay of Rs10 crore. Currently the island-country imports around 53,000 tons of milk powder per annum from Europe.

Speaking about the project, GCMMF chairman Dr Verghese Kurien, says, "We will set up the plant and run it initially. Once the operations stabilise, the plant will be donated to a Sri Lankan co-operative society."

Explaining the project rationale, Dr Kurien says, "India has surplus milk but is surrounded by neighbours who import milk from Europe. It makes good business as well as diplomatic sense to export milk and milk products to our neighbours."

According to him, the Tamil Nadu government through its milk federation, popularly known as Aavin could initially sell milk to Sri Lanka till the proposed plant starts operating. "It will take at least one year to set up the plant."

As a part of World Bank mission, Dr Kurien visited Pakistan some time back to suggest measures to develop the dairy industry there. According to Dr Kurien the trip was fruitful.

About the non-availability of Amul chocolates, he says that the federation is in the process of importing and installing machinery to upgrade quality.

Earlier, addressing the members of the Rotary Club of Madras he attributed the success of Amul to marketing. According to him, if co-operatives are to succeed, then industry professionals and not bureaucrats should run them. "Marketing skills are needed to succeed and bureaucrats lack that."