In his NDTV interview, Mehta framed trade negotiations as “a two-way thing,” where reciprocal market access is critical to long-term sector growth rather than a one-sided concession. He highlighted that negotiated tariff reductions—from around 50% to 18% on certain products—will help Indian agricultural and dairy products penetrate US markets more effectively, laying the groundwork for future export expansion.

Mehta also reflected on operational aspects of the dairy supply chain, underscoring the importance of cattle feed inputs for sustainability. Amul, which works with roughly 3.6 million farmers across 18,600 villages and handles about 350 million litres of milk daily, produces significant feed volumes through its manufacturing plants. He explained that some imported feed by-products such as DDGS have limited practical application in Indian cattle diets, suggesting that fears around feed imports disrupting domestic supply are overstated.

Despite this industry reassurance, farmer organisations remain sceptical. Groups such as the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and All India Kisan Sabha have announced protests, accusing the pact’s framework of potentially undermining Indian agriculture and contradicting official assurances that no compromise on sensitive sectors like dairy has occurred. These tensions reflect broader sector unease as details of the trade deal continue to unfold.