Nandini milk costs Rs 8 more a litre from 1 November, and farmers get Rs 7 of it

Picture a one litre packet of Nandini toned milk, the blue one. On Saturday it costs Rs 46. From Sunday, 1 November 2026, the same packet will cost Rs 54. Karnataka's Cabinet approved a hike of Rs 8 a litre on Thursday, 29 October, state minister Krishna Byre Gowda said.

The surprising part is where the money goes. Of the Rs 8, a full Rs 7 goes to the dairy farmers who keep the cows. Only Re 1 goes to the dairy cooperatives that pack and sell the milk.

First, what is Nandini?

Nandini is the milk brand of the Karnataka Milk Federation, the state's milk cooperative. A cooperative is a business run for its members, here the milk producers, instead of for outside shareholders. Think of a group of neighbours who pool their mangoes and sell them under one name, so each of them gets a fair price. The Karnataka Milk Federation sells its dairy products under the Nandini brand, Mint reported.

What does the new price list look like?

The new rates apply to all Nandini milk varieties, Mint reported. Here is the old price and the new price for one litre:

Toned milk (the blue packet): Rs 46 to Rs 54
Homogenised toned milk: Rs 47 to Rs 55
Homogenised cow's milk: Rs 50 to Rs 58
Shubham, with 4.5% fat: Rs 52 to Rs 60
Samruddhi: Rs 55 to Rs 63

For the blue packet, Rs 8 on top of Rs 46 is a jump of about 17%. A home that buys one litre a day will pay Rs 240 more in a 30 day month. That is like losing a few cups of chai from your pocket money every week.

One litre of Nandini toned milk goes from Rs 46 to Rs 54 — The blue packet goes from Rs 46 to Rs 54 a litre on 1 November.

Where does your Rs 8 go?

Think of a samosa stall. When a stall raises its price, the owner usually keeps the money. This milk hike is split very differently.

Right now, milk producers get around Rs 35 a litre, plus a Rs 5 a litre incentive from the Karnataka government, the minister said. An incentive is a bonus the government pays on top, to keep farmers going. With the Rs 7 rise, the price paid to farmers goes to Rs 42 a litre. The Rs 5 incentive stays the same.

"This means farmers will receive a total of Rs 47 per litre, including the government incentive."

That was the minister's own line, as reported by ET Retail. For farmers, Rs 35 to Rs 42 is a 20% raise on what the cooperative pays them. The remaining Re 1 of the hike goes to the cooperatives, which turn raw milk into packets and send them to shops.

A dairy farmer now gets Rs 47 a litre, Rs 42 plus a Rs 5 state incentive — Rs 42 from the milk price plus the Rs 5 state incentive makes Rs 47 a litre for farmers.

Why did farmers want more money?

Running a dairy has become costlier. Milk unions pointed to rising costs of cattle feed, fodder, medicines, transport and plastic packaging, The News Minute reported. Fodder, the dried plants and hay that cows eat, was also short because of drought.

The unions also compared prices with nearby states. The procurement price is the price a dairy pays a farmer for raw milk, the way a chai stall pays a shop for tea leaves. According to the unions, toned milk was bought from producers at Rs 35 a litre in Karnataka. In Andhra Pradesh the figure was Rs 41.50, in Kerala Rs 41.80, in Maharashtra Rs 41 and in Tamil Nadu Rs 42.24.

Chief Minister DK Shivakumar said the price gap with other states had contributed to milk being diverted to other states, Mint reported, quoting PTI. He also pointed to higher costs of plastic packaging, diesel and petrol, which push up transport costs.

Farmers had asked for more than they got. Milk producers had protested and wanted at least Rs 10 a litre, the minister said. The Cabinet settled on Rs 8. When the Cabinet first cleared the idea on 6 October, the plan was Rs 6 for producers and Rs 2 for milk unions, The News Minute reported. The final split moved Re 1 more to farmers.

Is Nandini still cheap compared with other states?

Yes, for most of them. Mint compared Nandini Shubham, a milk with 4.5% fat, with similar milk in other states, using a government price comparison cited by India Today.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh: Rs 68 a litre
Punjab, Odisha and Chhattisgarh: Rs 66
Gujarat and Rajasthan: Rs 64
Karnataka's Nandini Shubham, Bihar's Sudha and Goa's cooperative milk: Rs 60
Tamil Nadu's Aavin 4.5% milk: Rs 46, though prices there vary by variant

The average across the 10 other states in that list is Rs 62.80. So even after the hike, Karnataka sits below the average, and Rs 8 below Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Bar chart of one litre of 4.5% fat milk: Karnataka Rs 60, Gujarat Rs 64, Telangana Rs 68 — Nandini Shubham at Rs 60 is still cheaper than similar milk in Gujarat and Telangana.

How often has the price gone up?

This is the fifth rise since November 2022, The News Minute reported. Earlier rises were Rs 3 in November 2022, Rs 3 in July 2023, Rs 2 in June 2024 and Rs 4 in March 2025. Those four add up to Rs 12 a litre. With the new Rs 8, the total rise since November 2022 is Rs 20 a litre.

In June 2024, buyers got an added 50 ml of milk with each litre after a price rise, but the Karnataka Milk Federation later ended that, Dairy News Today reported.

What changes for tea stalls, sweet shops and homes?

Milk is the base of many small businesses. A tea stall, a coffee shop, a sweet shop or a hotel kitchen buys milk by the litre, so each litre now costs these businesses Rs 8 more. Each owner decides whether to raise the price of a cup of tea or a plate of sweets.

When reporters asked Chief Minister Shivakumar about the burden on buyers, he said the interests of milk producers also had to be counted. "If there are farmers, we can drink milk," he said, as reported by Mint.

This News18 video reports on the Cabinet's decision and the higher payout for farmers.

Watch on YouTube

The simple takeaway

Every packet of milk is a chain: the farmer and the cow, the cooperative that packs it, the truck that carries it and the shop that sells it. From 1 November, buyers in Karnataka pay Rs 8 more for each litre, and Rs 7 of that goes back to the start of the chain, the dairy farmer.

Sources

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