Bengaluru: The rise in Nandini milk price has hit consumers hard again. The Cabinet has approved a hike of Rs 4 per litre for Nandini milk. The Cabinet has approved the request of milk unions in the Cabinet meeting held on Thursday. With this, it seems that milk prices have been increased twice in a single year. In February, it was increased by Rs 2 per litre. However, now it has been increased by exactly Rs 4 per litre. The increase in milk prices has become a big burden for the people of the state who are already reeling from the rise in the prices of essential commodities. The demand for milk price hike from milk unions and farmers has been increasing continuously. The unions had requested CM Siddaramaiah to increase the price of milk by Rs 5 per litre. However, now the Cabinet has approved an increase of Rs 4.

The price hike details are for Homogenest Toned Milk, half a litre of homogenized toned milk costs Rs 24 in the state, while a litre of the same milk costs Rs 45. Now, if the new price comes into effect, half a litre will cost Rs 26 and a litre of milk will cost Rs 49. While Blue packet milk increased from Rs 44 to Rs 48 (per litre), Orange packet milk Rs 54 to Rs 58, Samriddhi milk packet Rs 56 to Rs 60, Green special milk: Rs 54 to Rs 58 and Normal green milk Rs 52 to Rs 56. Unions had requested a Rs 5 increase KMF and its member district cooperative milk unions have been urging the government to increase milk prices for several months. On the other hand, farmers had recently protested in front of the KMF headquarters in Bengaluru and demanded an increase in milk prices. Following this, representatives of KMF and District Cooperative Milk Unions decided to hold a meeting and submit a proposal to the government to increase the price of milk by Rs 5 per litre. As per this decision, a proposal was submitted to the government to increase the price of milk by Rs 5 per litre.

Due to the increase in the cost of dairy farming, there is an imperative need to increase the price of milk. If the price of milk is not increased, the district milk unions will have to suffer losses.

On the other hand, farmers will have to face financial difficulties. The proposal mentioned that the price of Nandini milk in the state is very low compared to the price of other brands of milk.

The proposal to increase the price of Nandini products was heard due to pressure from farmers and milk unions. There were all kinds of rumors that the price would increase as soon as the session ended. In the midst of this, CM Siddaramaiah did not agree to the price increase after holding a meeting with officials at his Kaveri residence.

Instead, there was a discussion about the pros and cons of the price increase, and the CM had said that he would discuss it in the cabinet meeting and decide. However, KMF President Bhima Naik, who spoke after the meeting, had planned for a price hike. Following this, the Cabinet has now given the green signal for an increase in the price of Nandini milk by Rs 4 per litre. In August 2023, the price of milk was increased by Rs 3 per litre. At that time, with the price revision, the price of milk increased from Rs 39 to Rs 42 per litre.

Later, due to the record increase in milk procurement in the state, KMF started distributing additional milk to consumers with the milk price revision effective from

June 26, 2024.