Chandigarh | 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 Rs 17.25 lakh crore livestock sector -- contributing 65 per cent of output and driving 16 per cent of India's gross value added (GVA), which supports 46.1 per cent of the population.

"The Union Budget has allocated Rs 6,153 crore for animal husbandry (up 16 per cent) 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.

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 per cent) from the indigenous buffaloes followed by crossbred cattle (30.80 per cent), indigenous cattle (11.20 per cent), non-descript cattle (9.64 per cent), non-descript buffaloes (11.97 per cent), goat (3.32 per cent) 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.