Thacker Dairy to invest Rs 100 crore on milk unit

The Rs 300 crore group was recently allotted 184 acres by the West Bengal government at Haringhata, 50 kilometres from Kolkata.

The investments will go into setting up an integrated cattleshed on the land allotted, setting up bulk milk coolers, direct milk procurement from farmers, and even a skimmed milk powder plant in order to utilise excess milk for other value-added products.

Dinesh Thacker, managing director of the company, told Business Standard, "We have just been allotted 184 acres by the state government. We will build the facility in phases. The first phase should start by early 2009. The cattleshed will start with 200 cows per month and the target is to have 5,000 cows in the integrated cattleshed where all activities would be managed and monitored through computer networking systems to ensure hygienic conditions. The idea is to get into backward integration and start production by 2009."

The cattleshed will process close to two lakh litres of milk per day.

The company will also set up a skimmed milk powder plant at the premises to utilise excess milk for products like butter and ghee.

The milk processed and value-added products will be sold under Thacker's own brandname.

"When we will have enough good quality milk, we will get into more dairy products like paneer and flavoured milk," Thacker informed.

The company currently has products like curd, lassi and icecreams. Thacker also offers five types of milk - full-cream milk, cow milk, toned milk, double toned milk, and skimmed milk - under its 'Farm Fresh' brand, priced between Rs 17 and Rs 28 for one litre.

Thacker will also set up gobar gas and fodder plants on the project site. The cowdung will be utilised for electricity generation at the processing plants.

The company also plans to utilise the cowdung residue as organic fertiliser and sell it to tea gardens and tea estates where organic fertilisers are in demand, thus creating another steady revenue generating stream.

Thacker is also setting up