Hatsun Agro to set up Rs 60cr milk powder plant in TN

CHENNAI: Private sector dairy major, Hatsun Agro Product is setting up a milk powder plant at Krishnagiri in Dharmapuri district of Tamil Nadu. With a capacity to produce 60 mt milk powder every day, the dairy ingredient plant will entail an investment of Rs 60 crore. It is expected to be operational by August 2008.

The company informed BSE, its Honnali Dairy Milk processing unit, in Karnataka, with a capacity to process and pack one lakh litres of milk per day, is slated to commence operations by November 2007. A processing facility at Madurai, with a capacity of one lakh litres of milk per day, is also expected to commence operations by January 2008.

Hatsun procures 1.5 million litres of milk every day from over 6,000 villages and over four lakh farmers directly. It sources the milk, covering a 1,300 km stretch, from Raibagh in North Karnataka to Tenkasi in the southern tip of Tamil Nadu.

Hatsun Agro Product, manufacturing and marketing the Arun brand of ice creams, has emerged as the largest private sector dairy of the country. For the half year ended September 2007, it clocked a turnover of Rs 400.69 crore, 45% increase over the same period last year. It employs over 2,000 people directly, company said in a statement.