Already hit by a hike in fuel prices, people in Delhi and the NCR

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now have to fork out more for their milk as well, with the biggest supplier Mother Dairy hiking prices by up to Rs 2 a litre.

The increase comes on the heels of another supplier Amul raising the price by the same amount on Friday.

Following the hike, one litre of full-cream milk of both the brands will now cost Rs 32 a litre in the national capital instead of Rs 30 earlier. One litre of toned milk in poly packs will cost Rs 24 instead of Rs 23, while a litre of toned vended milk will cost Rs 23 instead of Rs 22.

Prices of double-toned and skimmed milk remain unchanged.

Mother Dairy attributed the reason for increasing the prices to higher procurement costs.

"Due to deficit monsoon last year, there has been a sharp rise in the prices of fodder which constitutes a major part of cost of milk production. This has led to a significant increase in the prices paid for procurement of fresh milk," a Mother Dairy spokesperson said.

Over the last two years, Mother Dairy had increased the procurement price of fresh milk by about Rs 5 per litre. Other input costs towards packaging material, transportation and salary revision have also increased.

"Yes, we are going to increase the price of full-cream milk in Delhi by Rs 2 a litre from today," Amul acting Managing Director R S Sodhi said.

The price hike was necessary mainly because of higher procurement costs, which have gone up by 30 per cent from last year. Farmers have increased the price of fat by around Rs 100 per kg, Sodhi said.

The recent hike announced by the government on petroleum products has also contributed to the cost push, he added.

Dairy production in India, world's largest producer and consumer of milk, is projected to go up to 166 million tonnes (MT) by 2020 and would be between 180 MT and 200 MT by 2021-22. The milk production was 108.50 MT last year.

The government is planning to launch a national dairy plan of Rs 17,371 crore to increase output to 180 mt by 2021-22 as demand is expected to reach 172mt by then.