Amul to triple cheese production capacity, invest Rs 750-cr

Iwill be made to set up a new cheese plant

Dairy major Amul will invest Rs 750 crore to triple its cheese production capacity, in a bid to tap the growing market for the milk product in the country.

The investment will be made to set up a new cheese plant and to expand production capacity of its existing facility.

"The cheese market in India is growing and we are looking to tap this market. Therefore, we are tripling our cheese production capacity to 120 tonnes per day from 40 tonnes at present," GCMMF Managing Director R S Sodhi told PTI.

He said that the total investment on tripling the capacity will be around Rs 750 crore, out of which Rs 600 crore will be invested in setting up of a new plant in Gujarat's Palanpur.

"About Rs 150 crore have been invested at our cheese plant in Anand to double its capacity to 80 tonnes per day," Sodhi added.

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), owner of the Amul brand is also consolidating its position in northern India as the company's new processing plant having capacity to process about 15 lakh litres per day will start operations in October this year.

This will be Amul's fourth plant in Haryana, after one plant each at Rohtak, Manesar and Dharuhera to cater north India especially the national capital region.

"As of now, Amul holds 65% share of the total cheese market in the country," Sodhi said adding that the the cheese market is growing at a healthy pace so we want to tap this market more.

He also said that currently the cooperative's focus is on expanding its foot print in the country.

Meanwhile, the cooperative has recently entered the Hyderabad market.

GCMMF turnover in the year 2014-15 increased by 14% to Rs 20,730 crore from the previous year's Rs 18,143 crore. In this fiscal, the company is aiming to reach Rs 24,000 crore mark.