India’s Dairy Goes Digital as NDDB Builds a Data Spine

India’s dairy sector — already the world’s largest milk producer, accounting for about 25 % of global output — is undergoing a comprehensive digital transformation led by the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) to enhance efficiency, transparency and farmer welfare across the value chain.

At the heart of this digital push is the National Digital Livestock Mission (NDLM), which aims to create a unified livestock data ecosystem under the platform “Bharat Pashudhan.” Under this initiative, over 35.68 crore animals have been issued unique “Pashu Aadhaar” ear tags, linking each animal to its health, breeding and productivity history in a centralised database — enabling traceable livestock management at scale.

Daily milk procurement has also been modernised through the Automatic Milk Collection System (AMCS), which digitally records milk quantity and quality and ensures transparent, real-time payments directly to farmers’ bank accounts, now operational in 12 states/UTs and benefiting more than 17.3 lakh milk producers across 54 milk unions and over 26,000 dairy cooperative societies.

For cooperative managers and policymakers, the Internet-based Dairy Information System (i-DIS) provides a national data backbone, enabling nearly 198 milk unions, 15 federations and associated units to benchmark performance, share operational data and make evidence-based decisions — a major leap from paper-based reporting.

The digital ecosystem extends into processing-level enterprise resource planning with NDDB Dairy ERP (NDERP), cloud-linked procurement and distribution tools, Semen Station Management Systems for breeding services, and GIS-based milk route optimisation to cut logistics costs.

Together, these innovations are strengthening traceability, operational efficiency and farmer empowerment, while reducing inefficiencies and boosting supply chain responsiveness. By linking livestock identity, milk collection, logistics and cooperative performance into a cohesive digital “data spine,” India is building a technology-enabled dairy ecosystem that supports sustainable growth, better yields, and enhanced market competitiveness.

Source : Dairynews7x7 Jan 10th 2026 Read full story here