Amul to invest Rs5,000 cr to expand milk processing capacity

Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd (GCMMFL), the makers of Amul brand of milk and dairy products, is planning a major expansion of its milk processing capacities, involving investment of Rs5,000 crore, over the next two to three years.

Anand-based GCMMFL is setting up 10 new processing units in different parts of the country, with plants in Kolkata, Varansi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Faridabad, apart from five new units in Gujarat.

Amul managing director R S Sodhi said the new plant to be set up at Sankrail food park in Kolkata, is estimated to cost Rs250 crore.

"The new modern plant at Sankrail food park will cost us Rs250 crore with optimum processing capacity of 15 lakh litres per day," he said on the sidelines of 43rd Dairy Industry Conference.

''The 10 lakh litre per day plant near Kolkata would come up in the next 15 months at a cost of Rs250 crore. We have already established milk collection net work in the state. We are also bringing in fresh milk from Bihar to feed the three third-party plants in West Bengal,'' Sodhi said. These three plants process a total of 7.25 lakh litres a day, he said.

GCMMFL has planned to increase its own processing capacity from 230 lakh litres to 320 lakh litres. Currently it runs 51 processing plants.

Amul has recently entered the southern market through an outsourced processing plant in Hyderabad.

Sodhi said Amul has no plans at present to increase milk prices as global milk prices are still depressed.

''We had our last price hike in May last year. This year prices may rise by around 5 per cent in tandem with inflation,'' Sodhi added.