A New Luxury Product for Mumbai’s Rich: Fresh Milk

Jean-Pierre Muller/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Holstein cows stood by milk churns at a dairy farm in France.

Indians who have grown up in small towns or villages may remember waking up to tall steel glasses of milk fresh from the cow. In cities though, milk is more likely to arrive in a plastic bag or a carton, courtesy the local grocery store.

But a private dairy is promising to take rich Mumbaikars back to those good old days. Sort of.

Gowardhan, one of India's largest private dairies, has invited a select group of South Mumbai elite— a mix of political families, corporate executives, celebrities and expats—to sign up for its new milk delivery service: Pride of Cows. The milk is extracted every morning by machines from its herd of specially imported Jersey-Holstein cross-bred cows. Black-and-white Holsteins, which originated in the Netherlands, are the breed of cow most widely used for milk production in the U.S., while the brown Jersey cow, originally from the British isles, is known for its creamy milk.

"Today the largest concern for consumers is the adulteration: They are not aware of where the milk is coming from," said Rahul Akkara, vice-president of marketing at Gowardhan. "We have tried to tackle these issues. The entire process of milking the cow at the farm is automated through milking parlors, so there is no human contact."

The cows are going to be fed a special fodder, rich in iron, vitamins and Omega-3 fatty acids, and the [...]

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