Karnataka Milk Federation


Karnataka Milk Federation sells products such as pedha, paneer, curds and milk under the brand name of Nandini. It is a federation of milk producers association working on cooperative principles. Almost every district in state of Karnataka has milk producing co-operatives. The milk is collected from farmers who are its members, processed and sold in the market by the brand of Nandini. It is the second largest milk co-operative in India after Amul.
Chairman- Balachandra Jarkiholi

Background

The first of the dairy co-operatives that make up KMF started in 1955 in Kudige, Kodagu District. KMF was founded in 1974 as Karnataka Dairy Development Corporation to implement a dairy development project run by the World Bank. In 1984 the organisation was renamed KMF. KMF has 14 milk unions throughout the Karnataka State which procure milk from Primary Dairy Cooperative Societies and distribute milk to the consumers in various urban and rural markets in Karnataka State with 1,500 members.

History

The Karnataka Milk Federation was in the news in 2010 for price increases in milk.
Occasionally, there is spillover from Karnataka politics into the activities of KMF, including the elections for the post of chairman, and the timing of the milk price hike after the BBMP elections but before the Gram Panchayat elections in 2010.
Rajkumar has worked as the ambassador, free of cost and had done his first and last television commercial in 1996. Later Puneeth Rajkumar was selected as the ambassador for Nandini Products. In Dec 2009, Puneeth Rajkumar signed an agreement with KMF, free of cost. In 2014 Shriya Saran was selected as Nandini Good Life Product Ambassador in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh. Ragini Dwivedi was also selected as ambassador in Karnataka.