The editor of the Dairy India Year-Book has claimed that his country's dairy sector is risking the loss of Indian market share by failing to concentrate on traditional products, notably liquid milk. P.R. Gupta has said that the country's organised dairy sector was focusing too heavily on western products such as milk powder, butter, cheese and ice-cream for its product mix, ignoring the fact that traditional products accounted for over 90% of all Indian dairy consumption. The only traditional product being produced by dairies in any significant scale was ghee, he said. "Traditional milk products have the potential to become a major profit centre for the organised industry, given the sheer mass appeal it enjoys," he said.

By Swineetha Wickramanayake, in Columbo, Sri Lanka