Vadodara/ Anand: Homegrown dairy giant Amul has opened its highest altitude branch in Leh near the strategically crucial Indo-China border. This branch will work to meet the demand of remote areas up to the Chinese border even when the road is closed in winter.
The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) that markets Amul brand has opened its 70th branch at Leh. The branch is fully equipped with ambient, cool and frozen warehousing and logistics infra, GCMMF officials said.
The road connecting Srinagar, where Amul already has a branch, to Leh remains closed for nearly six months.
“We have three distributors who stock up supplies for the months of winter but yet they cannot continue providing their supplies in remote areas bordering China,” said R S Sodhi, managing director of GCMMF.
During the winter months, the logistic movement continues within the Leh-Ladakh region. “We have opened our full-ledged office with warehouse facility so that we can keep stock when the roads are open and keep serving all the remote areas, distributors from Leh among others for 365 days,” he said.
Leh-Ladakh region has proven to be a good market for Amul products like butter, tetrapak milk and mithai mate. Butter is amongst the top-selling product because of butter tea or gur gur chai which is a popular drink amongst locals in the Leh-Ladakh region.
“But so far, the variety available to consumers was limited. Now, a wide range of dairy products from ice-creams, chocolates, frozen products and cheese to butter, milk among others will be available to them,” he said.