D.K. Suresh calls for probe into predatory pricing of milk by quick commerce platforms

D.K. Suresh, former Member of Parliament and president of Bangalore Milk Union Ltd. (Bamul), has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to investigate the predatory pricing of milk by quick commerce platforms and its impact on dairy farmers and cooperative institutions.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr. Suresh sought to draw his attention to the recent promotional campaign by Flipkart Minutes, advertising milk at ₹1 per half litre as part of a customer acquisition campaign. “Milk is not an ordinary retail product. It is a livelihood-linked agricultural commodity produced daily by millions of small and marginal dairy farmers who depend on milk sales as a stable source of income. The advertised sale price of ₹1 per litre appears to be significantly below the economic cost of procurement, processing, packaging, transportation, cold-chain management, and retail distribution of milk. Such pricing does not appear commercially viable in normal market conditions and may be supported through platform subsidies or investor-backed promotional strategies,” he added.

Mr. Suresh said that this raised concerns under Section 4 of the Competition Act, 2002, which prohibits abuse of dominant position. It defines predatory pricing as the sale of goods or services below cost with the intention of reducing competition or eliminating competitors like KMF’s Nandini and Bamul. While promotional pricing is common in competitive markets, the use of extreme below-cost pricing in essential agricultural commodities raises important competition law concerns, he added.

He has sought immediate investigation into deep discounting practices in the sale of milk and other farmer-produced essential commodities by quick commerce platforms and has examined whether such campaigns constitute predatory pricing. He has urged an assessment of the potential impact of such pricing strategies on farmers, cooperative institutions, and small retailers, particularly in markets where quick commerce platforms are rapidly expanding.