Amul’s Managing Director (MD) R S Sodhi was relieved from his post on January 9 with immediate effect. He was given an extension over the past four years. The charge will now be handled by COO Jayen Mehta. The decision was taken by Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Board, which operates the Amul brand, at a board meeting.
Sodhi was at the helm of the company for the past 13 years. “I was on extension. The board has accepted my resignation,” Sodhi said. Sodhi, who has been associated with the federation for more than four decades, put in his papers soon after the board asked him to relinquish the charge.
While the reason for the sudden move could not be immediately ascertained, Sodhi said he was on an extension and had requested the board to relieve him from the responsibility of the MD.
At the federation’s board meeting held at the premises of AmulFed dairy in Gandhinagar, it was decided to end the services of Sodhi.
“As per the resolution No.2 of the board meeting, it was proposed to end your service as the federation’s MD with immediate effect. Thus, you are hereby directed to relinquish your charge as MD with immediate effect and hand it over to federation COO, Jayenbhai Mehta,” according to a communication sent by the board to Sodhi.
The communication was signed by the federation’s chairman Shamalbhai Patel and Vice Chairman Valamjibhai Humbal. Sodhi said he is “very happy” with the federation’s decision and refuted some reports which suggested that he has been “sacked” and his office has been “sealed”.
“My term as MD ended two years back and I was on extension. I had requested the board to relieve me from this responsibility. The board had told me to wait for some time saying they will relieve me once they find a suitable replacement” Sodhi told reporters. “When I again requested the GCMMF board to relieve me, they finally accepted my request and relieved me today. It was my own decision to step down and I am very happy today” he said.
When Sodhi took over as MD, the federation’s turnover was only Rs 9,774 crore in the 2010-11 fiscal. It touched Rs 61,000 crore in 2021-22 financial year. Sodhi, who has been working with the federation for more than 40 years, served as the MD for 12 years. He was first appointed as MD in 2010 for five years. In 2015, he was re-appointed to the same post till 2020. Since then, he has been on an extension.
Sodhi did his MBA from the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) and started his career as a manager with the federation.
Know about Jayen Mehta, the new MD of Amul
Jayen Mehta has been appointed as the new managing director at Amul for an interim period, the dairy sector cooperative giant announced on Monday. He replaced RS Sodhi, who had been leading the company since 2010, but was ousted from the role on January 9.
Mehta, who has been associated with Amul for more than 31 years, will take up the mantle of MD temporarily while a new MD will be announced in a few months. Here’s what we know about Jayen Mehta:
1.) He is the chief operating officer (COO) at Amul. Earlier, he had served as the company’s brand manager, group product manager and general manager in marketing function.
2.) He is a football enthusiast and had travelled to Qatar to watch Portugal play against Switzerland in the FIFA World Cup 2022. Mehta also hailed both Portugal and Argentina in a social media post for their performance this world cup because Amul was the regional sponsor for both the teams.
3.) Jayan Mehta has won several marketing and leadership awards. Some of them he won last year, as listed on his LinkedIn profile, include Marketer of the Year – FMCG Food issued by International Advertising Association’s (IAA) India Chapter and Best CMO Award 2021 issued by Pitch and Exchange4Media.
4.) He graduated in Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) in Marketing from BJ Vanijya Mahavidyalaya in Gujarat in 1989. Mehta is also a university gold medalist.
5.) Mehta did his post-graduation from Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) in Gujarat.
(With inputs from PTI)
10 Interesting Facts about Amul Brand
1. Amul spurred India’s White Revolution, which made the country the world’s largest producer of milk and milk products and became the largest food brand in India.
2. Full form of Amul Name is Anand Milk Unions Limited. Its also associated with the Sanskrit Word “Amoolya
3. Amul’s architect and chairman late Dr Verghese Kurien died in the 50th year of the creation of Amul.
4. The Amul girl was born in 1966. She already completed 50 years, Amul celebrated her golden jubilee a couple of years ago.
5. The (original) Amul Girl was created by Sylvester daCunha (daCunha Communications) to counter the Polson dairy girl ( a locally-owned dairy in Anand)
6. Amul owns 85 percent share in butter market. 65 to 66 share in Cheese with Market Leader. It also has 88% market share in butter,63% share in infant milk and 45% market share in dairy whitener.
7. The present Amul Butter cartoons are drawn by Jayant Rane.
8. Amul already launched Indian Desi Cow Milk(A2 milk) which boost the Mind power and its also Planning to launch Camel Milk First time in India.
9. The Amul model has helped India to emerge as the largest milk producer in the world. More than 15 million milk producers pour their milk in 1,44,500 dairy cooperative societies across the country.
10. daCunha designed a campaign which is popular and a series of hoardings on day-to-day issues. It earned a Guinness world record for the longest-running ad campaign in the world.
