Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation MD Sodhi quits as board asks him to step down

VADODARA: In a sudden move that took the cooperative sector by surprise, R S Sodhi, managing director of the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) - the apex body of all the milk unions of Gujarat - that markets India's largest FMCG brand Amul, resigned from the post on Monday.
The board of GCMMF, the home-grown dairy giant, has appointed chief operating officer (COO) Jayen Mehta as the interim MD with immediate effect.The decision was taken by the federation's board during a hurriedly convened board meeting Monday at AmulFed which led to widespread speculations in India's dairy sector that Sodhi was asked to step down.
Talking to TOI, Sodhi said that he was serving on an extension. "For the last 3-4 years, I was contemplating relinquishing my responsibility as MD. I was on an extension for the last two years and had requested the board to relieve me," said 64-year-old Sodhi, who hails from Ratta Khera village in Punjab.
GCMMF's succession plan had become clear last year when the federation's board unanimously elevated Mehta, who was then serving as chief general manager, to the post of COO on January 31, 2022. In GCMMF's hierarchy, COO's post is next to that of the MD.
But speculations turned rife that R S Sodhi's resignation was rather "unceremonious"considering the tone of the letter addressed to him.
The letter addressed to Sodhi signed by both GCMMF's vice-chairman Valamji Humbal and GCMMF's chairman Shamal Patel states that as per resolution 2 of the board meeting held at AmulFed Dairy, Gandhinagar "your services as MD of GCMMF have been terminated with immediate effect. Hence, it is ordered that you hereby relinquish the charge of MD with immediate effect and hand over the charge to COO Jayen Mehta".
The fact that both Humbal and Patel remained incommunicado throughout the day while other board members remained mum on the development only fuelled the speculation.
"I was informed over the phone to attend the board meeting at AmulFed in Gandhinagar at a very short notice which I could not," a board member told TOI, categorically stating he wasn't informed that Sodhi's resignation was to be discussed. Sodhi, who is also president of the Indian Dairy Association, joined GCMMF as a sales officer in Jaipur more than 40 years back.
An alumnus of the first batch of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) founded by Dr Verghese Kurien, father of India's White Revolution, Sodhi, a graduate in agriculture engineering from CTAE, Udaipur had worked closely with Kurien who founded GCMMF in 1973.
"When I had joined GCMMF in March 1982 as a sales officer, the federation's turnover was just Rs 121 crore. It had just six member unions and handled 12 lakh litres milk per day (LLPD)," Sodhi said.
Sodhi took over as in-charge MD of GCMMF in June 2010 and was appointed regular MD in January 2011 when the federation turnover was Rs 8,005 crore with 88 LLPD.
"It was a wonderful experience. I got the opportunity to meet some of the finest people from across the world, and serve farmers of Gujarat," he said and added that by the end of the financial year 2022-23, the federation will turn into a Rs 72,000 crore body.
Sodhi had completed two terms of five years each. After his second term ended in December 2020, the board members had given him an extension "till the time the next appointment is made".
Interestingly, Sodhi himself had taken over MD's post after GCMMF's then MD BM Vyas resigned abruptly amid a long-drawn power struggle between the former chairman Parthi Bhatol and his baiters in the board.
Mehta has been associated with Amul for the last 32 years. He has also served as in-charge MD of Amul Dairy, Anand, and is the federation's nominee on the board of many milk unions in Gujarat. A gold medalist from Vallabh Vidyanagar-based Sardar Patel University, Mehta is also an alumnus of IRMA.