Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE) and Director General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) M L Jat has said India's milk production rose from 17 million tonnes in 1950 to 247 MT in 2025.
Jat, a distinguished agronomist, highlighted dairy's dominance within the ₹17.25 lakh crore livestock sector -- contributing 65% of output and driving 16% of India's gross value added (GVA), which supports 46.1% of the population.
"The Union Budget has allocated ₹6,153 crore for animal husbandry (up 16%) to recruit 20,000 veterinarians, subsidize colleges/labs and provide cooperative tax relief, powering Viksit Bharat in 2047," he said, while addressing the 22nd convocation of ICAR-National Dairy Research Institute (ICAR-NDRI) at Karnal in Haryana on Friday.
2 March 2026
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According to an NDRI release, Jat said India's milk production surged from 17 MT (1950) to 247 MT (2025), led by Uttar Pradesh, with Punjab-Haryana topping yields and NITI Aayog projecting 480-606 MT demand by 2047.
Share of milk production was the highest (31.18%) from the indigenous buffaloes followed by crossbred cattle (30.80%), indigenous cattle (11.20%), non-descript cattle (9.64%), non-descript buffaloes (11.97%), goat (3.32%) and exotic cattle (1.89 percent) in the total milk production in the country, it said.
ICAR-NDRI Director Dheer Singh also spoke on the occasion.
