Dairy major Amul will invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next three years to ramp up milk production and new processing capacities.

“We will require Rs 5,000 crore over three years in adding new capacities, ramping up existing facilities and entering new markets,” managing director R S Sodhi said.

The company, he said, would be setting up 10 new milk processing plants across the country and upgrade existing plants which would translate into enhanced processing capacity of 320 lakh litres from 230 lakh litres.

“The new investments will help attaining Rs 50,000 crore turnover in 2—3 years from Rs 18,000 crore as on March 2014,” Sodhi said.

Of the 10 new plants, 5 will be set up in Gujarat and the remaining five will be set up in Faridabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Varanasi and Kolkata, he said.

The Anand—based dairy cooperative currently operates 51 plants in the country, of these, 41 are in Gujarat.

Ruling out any immediate hike in the prices of its products, Sodhi said those of milk are expected to remain at current levels for the next few months.

Globally, milk prices had crashed by 40—50 per cent over the previous year but it had no soothing effect in domestic dairy prices.

“From May 2012 till May 2014, milk prices on an average have gone up by 10—12 per cent per annum. I do not foresee such increase in 3—4 months. Going forward, it may only rise by 4—5 per cent annually,” he said.

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