This institution was established in 1956 as “The National Milk Board” under the purview of the Ministry of Agriculture. It commenced operations with a single Factory in Colombo commissioned under the Colombo Plan. 

Today it boasts of a wide network of milk collection, production and sales centers administrated through out the island and continue to contribute towards the enhancement of the rural economy while providing the much needed nutrition to the entire nation. 

In 1986, the “National Milk Board” was converted into “Milk Industries of Lanka Company Limited” as a government owned company. After that in 1998 “Kiriya Milk Industries of Lanka (Pvt) Ltd.” took over the administration of “Milk Industries of Lanka Company Limited”. Later in 2000, “Kiriya” was taken back by the government and in 2001 it was named as “Milco (Pvt) Ltd.”, which now stands as a 100 % government owned company.