Vadodara: Home-grown dairy giant Amul will set up the world’s largest curd manufacturing plant near Kolkata in West Bengal.
The announcement was made at the Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata on Thursday by Jayen Mehta, managing director of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the body that markets dairy products under the brand name Amul.
The plant will have a capacity of 10 lakh kg per day for manufacturing dahi, mishti doi, yogurt, lassi and buttermilk.
“This integrated dairy plant, which will be the largest in eastern India, will also process and pack 15 lakh litres of milk a day along with ice cream, flavoured milk, paneer, ghee and UHT milk,” Mehta told TOI.
The state-of-the-art Amul Bengal Dairy plant is being set up at Sankrail Food Park in Howrah near Kolkata with an investment of Rs 600 crore in two phases by Anand-based Kaira District Cooperative Milk Producers Union Limited, popularly known as Amul Dairy. Amul Dairy is a member of GCMMF.
“The consumers of Bengal have a strong preference for curd — popular as ‘tok doi’ and ‘mishti doi’. This plant will help cater to the growing demand in the market,” said Mehta.
Amul is currently the largest fresh milk brand in Bengal, with sales of more than 10 lakh litres of milk per day. The dairy major has a strong procurement network in 14 districts of Bengal, with more than 1.2 lakh women milk producers associated with it.
The new dairy plant will lead to further strengthening of the dairy cooperative movement in Bengal under the White Revolution 2.0 initiative of the Union cooperation ministry, Amul officials said.
