One of the most significant changes in India's agricultural economy over the past three and a half decades has been the rising contribution of livestock sector in the agricultural gross domestic product (AgGDP). Between 1970 and 2011, the share of livestock in AgGDP has risen from 17 per cent to around 29 per cent. India has been the largest milk producing country in the world since 1997 and the data for 2011-12 reiterated the strong position of the country in the global market. Growing by 5.01 per cent over 2010-11, India remained the largest milk producing country in the world at 127.9 million tonnes (2011-12). The annual average growth rate in milk production in India stood at 4.29 per cent during 2001-02 to 2011-12 with the milk production rising from 84.4 million tonnes in 2001-02 to 127.9 million tonnes in 2011-12. It is expected that India will increase its output by 5 million tonnes to reach 132 million tonnes in 2012-13. While a large credit of India's strong position in the global marketgoes to the White Revolution (also known as Operation Flood), the country is today well poised for higher growth in the coming years. The milk output is expected to cross the 150 million tonnes mark in the coming few years with India continuing to be thelargest milk producing nation in the world.
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