Sahara India to enter dairy business

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Sahara India Pariwar on Sunday announced its decision to make a foray into dairy business from next year.

"We are going to make a foray into dairy business by opening the world's biggest dairy on April 1, 2013. We plan to produce 50 lakh tonnes of milk – the largest in the country," Chairman of Sahara India Pariwar Subrata Roy told reporters here.

He said pure milk would be made available to the public from his dairy and for this 9,000 acres would be acquired near Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh besides land in Madhya Pradesh.

Asked why the company is not entering West Bengal in infrastructure business, Roy said there were a lot of political problems there.

"We faced a lot of legal hurdles in acquiring 175 acres of land in Kolkata", he said adding that in Siliguri and Kharagpur the company is likely to launch its projects soon.

About the group's experience in Uttar Pradesh in past five years of BSP rule, Roy said the company was in ‘back gear’.

On problems being faced for development of townships, he said 47-48 government sanctions were needed for a project. "Besides, environmental clearance is necessary. It takes about two years," he said and added that group had the biggest land bank in the country and expected three-four other companies to come up.

About plans to enter Delhi, Roy said it was planning a project near Dwarka and also in Greater Noida and Ghaziabad.