Published : Sep 30, 2026 08:00 IST – 15 MINS READ
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Solar panels installed at the Sherpura Dairy Cooperative in Banaskantha, Gujarat. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL
At more than Rs.11.16 lakh crore, the value of India’s milk output is higher than that of any other agricultural commodity, exceeding the combined value of paddy and wheat, according to the National Accounts Statistics 2024. Dairy is also one of the country’s largest sources of rural livelihood, supporting more than eight crore people, most of them small and marginal farmers for whom a few heads of cattle provide a steady income.
In September 2024, the government launched White Revolution 2.0. The initiative aims to bring uncovered panchayats into the cooperative fold, targeting a 50 per cent increase in milk procurement by dairy cooperatives over 5 years through the creation of 75,000 new dairy cooperative societies, alongside efforts to widen market access, generate employment, and empower women in the sector.
India has been the world’s largest milk producer since 1998 and now accounts for nearly a quarter of the global milk output, with production rising by almost 18 per cent in four years—from about 210 million tonnes in 2020-21 to nearly 248 million tonnes in 2024-25.
But these headline figures and the government’s expansion plans do not present the complete picture. According to the government’s own statistics, just five States—Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, and Maharashtra—together produce a little over 54 per cent of India’s milk (“Animal Husbandry Statistics” 2025). The eastern and north-eastern States, despite having large populations and sizeable livestock numbers, contribute far less to the national output. This gap is not only about how many animals a State has, or how productive they are—it is also about what happens to the milk after it leaves the animal and before it reaches a buyer.
A comparison of milking animals and milk output makes this clear. Punjab has just 1.41 per cent of India’s milking animals (according to the 20thlivestock census; figures published in 2025) but produces around 6 per cent of the country’s milk. Gujarat has 5.32 per cent of the animals but contributes 7.78 per cent of output. Bihar shows the opposite pattern. It has 7.94 per cent of India’s milking animals but produces only 5.41 per cent of the milk. Animal productivity explains part of this gap, but so does infrastructure: as White Revolution 2.0 aims to bring more villages into the cooperative network, growth on that scale will depend as much on strong infrastructure for refrigeration, storage, and transportation as it will on the number of cooperatives created.
Fresh milk leaves the animal at around 33°C and needs to be cooled to 3-4°C as quickly as possible to slow bacterial growth. This makes electricity more than a running cost for a dairy. It is part of the cold chain itself. If power fails, milk does not wait for it to return.
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“The biggest challenge dairy farmers face is the time between milking the animals and reaching the chilling centre. Ideally, milk should be chilled within two to three hours,” said Vishal Sukhija, senior programme associate at the Sustainability, Equity and Diversity Fund.“If there is a delay, bacterial growth begins, which pushes down the quality of the milk and, in some cases, can even make it unusable.”In many regions, milk takes four to six hours to reach a chilling centre, especially where collection points are far from villages.
Just how much this costs India as a whole is hard to pin down, but a study by NABARD Consultancy Services offers a rare estimate. Across 14 locations studied, the average post-harvest milk loss was 0.87 per cent. That average, however, hid wide variation: losses ranged from 0.53 per cent in Indore of Madhya Pradesh to as high as 8.94 per cent in East Medinipur of West Bengal. This suggests that national figures can mask severe losses in poorly served pockets, particularly where collection, transport, and chilling infrastructure remain weak.
Aakriti Srivastava, founder of the “open-access” dairy BahulaNaturals, has witnessed this problem at first hand in one of India’s harshest dairying regions. “Rajasthan, especially the western part of the State, is extremely arid and hot,” she said. “Earlier, milk spoilage in these areas could be as high as 40 per cent, and during summer, it could reach 70 per cent.”
A bulk milk cooler, or BMC, is meant to be the first line of defence against spoilage. It cools milk after collection and holds it at a low temperature until it can move to a larger facility. But this system only works with a steady power supply, and in many rural areas, electricity remains unreliable, particularly during the monsoon. Diesel generators have become the standard backup.
A 2026 survey by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication found that 66 per cent of Indians reported facing electricity disruptions on a typical day. Twenty-two per cent reported outages of five hours or more, 16 per cent reported three to four hours, and 29 per cent reported one to two hours. For an ordinary household, a power outage may mean little more than inconvenience. For a dairy, however, the same outage can mean thousands of litres of milk warming, increasing the risk of spoilage and resulting in significant loss of income.
Solar-powered milk chiller at Umarava Dairy Mandali in Chhota Udepur, Gujarat. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL
The economics of diesel backup are punishing. According to estimates from Inficold (a company that designs energy-efficient cooling systems), grid electricity used for chilling costs about Rs.0.15 to Rs.0.20 for a litre of milk, compared with roughly up to Rs.2 for a litre when diesel is used instead.
Diesel also brings uncertainty—its price and supply are not always predictable. Floods, transport disruptions, and other emergencies can make fuel difficult to source. Global events can add to that uncertainty. Recent tensions involving Iran, for instance, have shown how geopolitical disruptions can affect energy markets and fuel prices. For dairy farmers and cooperatives, higher cost of diesel or its unavailability can make keeping milk cold difficult, increasing the risk of spoilage and financial losses.
In Bihar’s Begusarai district, a farmer, Shailendra Choudhary, said sourcing diesel becomes especially hard during floods in the Kosi region, when power supply can stay disrupted for days at a stretch.“Solar energy is very helpful in these conditions,”he said. “Farmers want to reduce their dependence on external sources and become more self-reliant.” For dairies in weak-grid areas, the real value of solar energy is not just that sunlight is free—it removes dependence on a backup system that itself often fails during emergencies.
Nitin Goel, founder of Inficold, said dairies now use two main types of solar systems. The first is a grid-connected solar system: solar panels reduce the dairy’s electricity bill, but the dairy remains dependent on the grid. When the power goes out, it still has to use diesel. So, while this system saves money, it does not solve the problem of unreliable power.
The second is a stand-alone solar chiller, which can work without the grid. It costs more to instal, but it can reduce dependence on both grid electricity and diesel. This makes it more useful for dairies in areas where power supply is unreliable.
The Sherpura dairy cooperative in Gujarat’s Banaskantha district shows how the first model plays out in practice. “Earlier, our electricity bill was around Rs.1 lakh a month. After installing the solar system, it has come down to around Rs.12,000,” said Dahyaji Hinduji Jat, a farmer and secretary of the cooperative. The savings are significant, but there is a catch. “When the grid power is disconnected, the solar system does not supply electricity. We still need a diesel generator to keep the milk cool,” he said.
Sherpura has over 500 members and collects around 20,000 litres of milk daily. In 2022-23, the cooperative invested Rs.32 lakh of its own money without government or dairy union subsidy in a 62-kW solar system. The investment sharply cut its electricity bill, but during power cuts, the cooperative still leans on diesel, spending around Rs.2.5 lakh a year on fuel. Sherpura’s experience shows that cutting electricity costs does not automatically mean energy independence.
For a cooperative with a mostly stable grid connection that simply wants to reduce monthly costs, this model may be enough. But for a collection centre where outages are frequent and spoilage is the real worry, a different approach is needed.
At Aambaliyawas, near Thara in north Gujarat, a cooperative secretary, Jagani Jayeshbhai Kumar, saw what happened when his cooperative moved away from grid dependence entirely. An electric BMC had cost the cooperative nearly Rs.1.4 lakh a year in electricity, plus around Rs.24,000 on diesel during outages. After switching to a solar-powered chiller, with support from a WWF India initiative, both expenses disappeared.
“When there was a power cut, we had to run around looking for a diesel generator set on rent. Milk cannot wait,” Jayeshbhai said. “Now I don’t have to worry about electricity or diesel.” What makes this system work is not just the solar panels, but how the cooling system is designed to keep milk cold even when the sun is not out and the grid is down.
These systems are more advanced than simply bolting solar panels onto a regular BMC. They combine solar panels, a milk cooler, and an ice-based thermal storage unit. During the day, solar power runs the compressor while extra capacity is used to freeze water and “store” cooling as ice. When fresh milk arrives at 30–35°C, the compressor and stored ice work together to cool it fast. At night, or during an outage, the stored ice acts like a cold battery, keeping temperatures stable without any generator.
At Umarava Dairy Mandali in Chhota Udepur, home to about 600 members, results have been similar. “After adopting the solarised chiller, milk spoilage has reduced to zero. Earlier, power cuts were a major problem, particularly during the summer,” said Mahendrabhai Rathwa, the cooperative’s head. A conventional chiller took 3 to 4 hours to cool milk and needed an operator on-site for long stretches. The solar system has cut that burden and saves the centre Rs.12,000 to Rs.15,000 a month in combined power and fuel costs.
For the Sanghamitra Mahila Farmer Producer Company in Assam, the problem was power cuts and milk losses. The company, run by 1,794 women from self-help groups, began collecting milk in 2023. In its first 6 months, 4 major outages led to the loss of about 480 litres of milk, said CEO Jackson Basumatary. It was spending around Rs.22,000 a month on electricity and diesel.
A diesel-powered generator used in a dairy. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL
In February 2024, Sanghamitra installed a 10-kW solar system with support from the Sauramandala Foundation. Its monthly energy costs fell to around Rs.3,000 and diesel use stopped completely. For the company, choosing solar energy was not just about saving money. It provided a more reliable source of power when milk needed to be chilled.
In Rajasthan’s Thar region, the problem is different. Many remote villages around Bikaner, Jaisalmer, and Jodhpur either have no grid connection or face unreliable power supply. “Many of these remote areas do not have access to the electricity grid. And even where grid connectivity exists, the electricity supply is often unreliable,” said Srivastava, whose organisation has installed eight 500-litre stand-alone solar chillers, starting with one solar chillar in 2020. Milk spoilage, which once reached 40 to 70 per cent, has fallen to below 10 per cent, she said.
In Assam’s Barak Valley, solar energy is helping solve a different problem: getting milk from farmers to a collection centre quickly. A cooperative in the Cachar-Silchar area, with about 100 members and 50 active suppliers, collects nearly 250 litres a day. Earlier, farmers sold milk directly in nearby towns, with some using LPG stoves to heat the milk and extend its shelf life. A solar chiller installed with support from SELCO Foundation brought milk collection closer to farmers and reduced their dependence on these costly methods, said Mehbub Hasan Laskar, who works SELCO Foundation.
Solar energy can also help dairies that have a grid connection but cannot easily get more power. Some milk chillers require compressors of around 6.5 kW. Connections above 2.5 kW in some southern Indian States may require a commercial connection, leading to additional paperwork and delays. Solar systems with thermal or battery storage can allow dairies to add chilling capacity without waiting for a larger grid connection, said a person associated with the industry.
The main drawback of stand-alone solar chillers is their higher upfront cost. But their running costs can be much lower because they reduce or eliminate electricity and diesel use. “In one case study, a 2,000-litre bulk milk cooler used about 200 litres of diesel a month. After solarisation, it was estimated to save around Rs.2.15 lakh a year,” said Dr Sudhindra, CEO of Promot Innovations.
Going by Inficold’s basic calculation of the cost of using diesel instead of electricity for cooling a litre of milk, for a 1,000-litre-per-day chiller running 300 days a year, the annual cooling cost would be about Rs.93,600 if diesel is used for 10 per cent of the time, Rs.1.33 lakh at 20 per cent, and Rs.1.73 lakh at 30 per cent.
A chart showing how the use of diesel during power cuts pushes up costs in dairy farming. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL
With stand-alone solar-powered chillers, sunlight provides the energy after installation. The main costs are, therefore, the initial investment and routine maintenance, while spending on electricity and diesel can be largely avoided.
WWF India has helped set up more than 100 solar-powered instant chillers across Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, and Rajasthan, together handling around 50,000 litres of milk daily. That is proof that the technology works. Yet, its use remains negligible compared with the scale of India’s dairy network. Three structural barriers explain why.
“The first challenge is the high capital cost. Small milk collection centres often simply cannot afford solar-powered chilling systems without external financial support,” said Vishal Dev, Director, WWF-India.
The second is how financial support is designed. Goel observed that dairy programmes have mostly backed conventional bulk coolers with subsidies, leaving stand-alone solar systems with thermal storage under-supported, even though they solve the harder problem of reliability.
The third barrier is weak reward for quality. Dr Sudhindra pointed out that dairy procurement has traditionally focussed on how much milk is delivered, not how well it is preserved. If farmers see little extra payment for protecting milk quality, there is limited incentive to invest in better cooling.
Solar power in India’s dairy sector is not just about chilling milk any more—it is spreading into nearly every stage of the value chain, starting even before the milk is collected.
Solar power is also being used for milking. Milking has to be done at fixed times, usually in the morning and evening, so power cuts can disrupt the process.“Milking has to be carried out at fixed times every morning and evening, and uninterrupted power is essential,”said Akshtha J., project manager at SELCO Foundation. Solar-powered milking machines can help farmers avoid diesel or petrol generators and reduce their dependence on an unreliable grid.
A solar-powered water heater. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL
Solar power is also being used to heat water for cleaning. Milk chillers need to be washed every day with hot water, usually at 70-80°C, to remove milk fat and protein left behind in the tank. In parts of northern Gujarat, dairies are using solar water heaters for this task, reducing the electricity or fuel needed for cleaning.
Solarisation is also moving beyond milk chilling into dairy processing. The National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) has set up a solar-powered milk processing plant in Kargil to supply fresh milk to Army units in Siachen, Nubra Valley, and Leh. In Kerala, the board has partnered with the Ernakulam Regional Cooperative Milk Producers’ Union for a larger milk-processing plant in Kochi, powered by a 2 MW solar plant.
NDDB has been central to India’s dairy story since Operation Flood began in 1970. More than five decades later, it has a key role in the government’s White Revolution 2.0.
NDDB claims on its website that it keeps track of technological advances and incorporates new technologies into dairy-plant design. The website also lists several initiatives involving solar energy. But an RTI response obtained suggests that the pace of deployment has been slow.
An RTI response from NDDB, which has installed only one solar-powered milk chiller, in 2018. It did not provide any information about the grid-independent bulk milk cooler. | Photo Credit: SUCHAK PATEL
The board has installed only one solar-powered milk chiller, in 2018. It has also deployed 19 concentrated solar thermal (CST) systems at dairy plants across seven States, with a combined capacity of about 223 lakh kcal a day. However, an RTI response shows that the last such installation was in 2023, with no new systems reported since then.
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NDDB also mentions that it is working with the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy on a framework for grid-independent bulk milk coolers. But its RTI response did not provide details on the progress of the framework. As White Revolution 2.0 expands the cooperative dairy network, the challenge is not merely creating more cooperatives but ensuring that they have reliable energy infrastructure.
Solar power is steadily finding its way into India’s dairy sector—cooling milk, heating water, even powering processing plants. The technology has proven itself in villages from Rajasthan to Assam. What remains is scaling it up, through better financing, stronger policy support, and cooperation between government bodies and local dairies. As India’s dairy network grows under White Revolution 2.0, solar power could well become a bigger part of that story.
Suchak Patel is an independent writer and researcher. This story is produced with support from the Internews Earth Journalism Network Fellowship.
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