Amla Utpadak Sahakari Samiti Ltd (AUSSL)

Introduction
BAIF Development Research Foundation (formerly registered as the Bharatiya Agro
Industries Foundation), is a reputed voluntary organisation established in 1967 by Dr.
Manibhai Desai, a disciple of Mahatma Gandhi, at Urulikanchan, near Pune to promote
sustainable livelihood in Rural India.BAIF is committed to provide sustainable livelihood to
the rural poor through climate-resilient
climate resilient agriculture, management of natural resources,
livestock development, watershed development and agri-horti-forestry
agri
forestry as major income
generation activities. BAIF has evolved innovative models of micro-enterprises
micro enterprises to ensure
inclusive development through dairy husbandry, goat production, agri
agri-horti-forestry and
sustainable agricultural production for food security and poverty alleviation. Formation of
Producers' Groups, Empowerment of women and environmental sustainability cut across all
these programmes.
Amla Utpadak Sahakari Samiti Ltd (AUSSL) is a cooperative
ve society promoted by BAIF
to cater to the needs of the farmers in and around Udaipur. It has set up an Amla processing
plant and is currently engaged in the production of amlacandy,
candy, juice, murraba, pickles,
squash, ladoo, chutney, jams & various type of Amla Powder. AUSSL products are marketed
under the Vrindavan brand name. AUSSL is one of BAIFs more successful projects
benefiting around 21,000 families so far.

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 1

BAIF now wants to expand this business by identifying new market areas, expanding the
market size, quantifying potential demand and improving linkages to existing and new
markets. The success and sustainability of this project will allow BAIF to increase production
capacities and sale of the amla products.
The Amla Project
The project aims to improve the livelihoods of small marginal Amla farmers in Rajasthan by
scaling up the benefits and positive income impact achieved over the past 10 years. Since
2003, BAIF has been working on this project and expanded it to 347 villages of South
Rajasthan. The project has been able to introduce Amla cultivation to 9,826 small, marginal
farming families covering the total area of 3,439 hectares. The farmers are getting a price of
Rs. 7-8 per Kg. of Amla (up from Rs. 4-5 per Kg. in Year 1, when the produce had to be sold
to middlemen) they now sell it straight to the Amla processing plant that has been set up in
the area as part of the project. The projects present total annual production is 1,413 tons of
Amla per year. BAIF has also recently started marketing the Amla products under the
Vrindavan brand name across India. Now that a solid foundation has been laid during the
project, BAIF has identified the strong potential for scaling up the benefits and positive
income impact to the small marginal Amla farmers, through this project.
A processing unit for Amla in Udaipur is being operated by a farmers cooperative with
BAIFs support; and large backend support with Amla production through the establishment
of large Amla plantation (>5000 ha) in and around Udaipur. The cooperative,
AmlaUtpadakSahakariSamiti Ltd (AUSSL) has developed many Amla products like
Candies, Powder, Pickle, Juice, Pulp/jam, processed nuts (Supari) etc that are ready for sale.
They have also branded the products with Vrindavan through BAIF promoted well
established (2004) Producer Company VrindavanAgrihorti producers Company
Ltd(VAPCOL).

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 2

Amla Industry and Competition

Introduction
Driven by its medicinal and nutritional value and suitability for processing into a wide range
of products, amla is emerging as a favoured species for small-farm
small farm agro forestry in many
parts of India. Amla fruit maturity is attained around September in sout
southern latitudes and
harvesting is usually completed by November in southern locations like Karnataka whereas it
may extend up to February/March in Uttar Pradesh & Rajasthan in the north.
The increased research focus on amla has resulted in the development of a number of
varieties and the standardization of cultivation practices. Establishing small orchards with
amla as sole crop is gaining popularity at present. Its cultivation is increasing in dry lands of
Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.
Pradesh. According to an estimate, the area
under amla in India is 49,620 hectares.
Market
Among the amla products, the important ones are candy, murrabah, burfi, laddu and pickles.
There is currently no established demand for Amla products. It is estimated that around
250,000 tonnes of raw amla is produced and around 225,000 tonnes is processed, with
Prathapgarh district of Uttar Pradesh being the key amla production centre of the country. It
has many small and large units that process
process amla fruits into a variety of products.
Small processing units obtained fruits from their own farms and also sourced raw material
locally to make full use of their capacity. Larger units have farmers as well as suppliers who
collect fruits from farms.
s. In addition to sale of products in nearby cities and towns, they are
also supplied to retailers in other states. For standard sales, some shops/retailers sell amla
products exclusively whereas others have a more diverse product range. Accordingly, the
Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 3

proportion
roportion of income for these retail outlets from the sale of processed amla ranged from 20
2075%.
As a standard, Amla processing units can be classified as large, medium and small. Their
production capacity and market linkages are as follows:

Production Capacity and Flow of AUSSL

Currently
urrently AUSSLs capacity is 150 tones/annum and they plan to increase up
upto 500
tonnes/annum by 2020 so that more farmers can benefit from the increase capacity.

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 4

Production Flow Amla Candy

Processing of candy is completed within the amla season. Below process flow has been
mapped based on the factory visit and discussions with factory manager.

Amla arriving at the factory is a mix of different grades and the process of separation
is done manually by hand.

When BAIF is not producing to meet a specific demand, they pack the candy in 1kg
packs and send them to the cold storage (Udaipur city).

Once an order is received the 1kg packs are redelivered to the factory for packing and
branding based on the order.

Cost of cross-transportation is estimated to be roughly Re. 0.7/kg.

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 5

Product Portfolio Analysis

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 6

As can be seen, Candy, Juice and Murabbamake up over 90% of their revenues. Analyzing
the sales composition of these 3 products, we can clearly see the increasing dominance of
candy with regards to sales.

The increasing dominance of Candy in the product portfolio is certainly attributable to the
demand for it. Also, as can be seen below, at a cursory glance, Candy seems to provide
greater sales per kg than both Juice and Murabbah.

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 7

AUSSL Value Chain

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 8

Strategy:
Based on the given information recommend a focused and scalable growth strategy for
AUSSL to improve sale of Amla products in existing and new markets. Your presentation
besides incorporating knowledge and ideas that you have learned during the class room
sessions should also touch upon the following1.
2.
3.
4.

Target Market
Product Portfolio
Marketing and Branding Strategy
Distribution Strategy

Please justify your strategy based on facts and figures based on information provided in the
case study and also secondary research.

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 9

Appendix: Additional Information for Amla Processing Business

Case Study Prepared by Rahul Barkataky, 2015 for class room discussion only

Page 10