Aavin, aiming to expand its customer base, has embarked on a campaign to educate public about advantages of the monthly milk card. Banners have been placed at several parlours and social media campaign has been stepped up.

Those buying milk through monthly consumer cards stand to save ₹3 a litre and ₹2 a litre on toned milk (blue packet) and standarised milk (green magic) respectively. This would translate to a saving of ₹90 or ₹60 a month and all it requires is a valid ID proof, not necessarily Aadhaar card, said an official.

The Tamil Nadu Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, which owns Aavin brand, recently launched a facility where people can apply for fresh cards online on its website. “Not just via the website, people can buy cards at all our hi-tech parlours. This will be apart from the facility to buy new cards or renew existing cards at zonal offices, which is the usual practice,” said another official.

In case of those who apply for new cards or renew online, Aavin would send the transaction ID to the respective booth and in case there is a mismatch, the personnel at the booth would send back details for making changes in the system.

The card system in the city was started over 40 years ago and has been expanded to other cities including Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi.

The milk cooperative sells 13.50 lakh litres of milk daily in Chennai city. Of this, 7.40 lakh litres is through monthly cards where consumers pay the amount in advance. In case consumers do not take as many packets on a particular day or for a few days in a month, the advance paid is adjusted in the next month’s payment.

Aavin gained over one lakh new consumers after the State government reduced milk prices by ₹3 a litre. Last year, it weeded out around 80,000 dormant consumer cards through a verification drive.