International Finance Corporation (IFC) plans to invest upto $17 million in Pune-based Parag Milk Foods Pvt Ltd to expand the latter’s milk processing facilities at Manchar in Maharashtra and Palamaner in Andhra Pradesh.
The total project cost is estimated at about $32.7 million, of which about $13.9 million (i.e. 42 per cent of the total cost) has already been funded through an equity investment by the International Development Finance Corporation (IDFC).
On the association with IFC, Devendra Shah, chairman, Parag Milk Foods said, “We are planning to strengthen our operations by focussing on plant automation, expanding our procurement and distribution network and increasing focus on manufacturing more value-added products like whey protein, UHT milk, etc.”
While the Manchar facility of Parag Milk Foods has a milk processing capacity of up to 12 lakh litre per day, the Palamaner facility has the capacity to produce upto eight lakh litre per day.
The firm produces liquid milk and value-added products like cheese, butter, ghee (clarified butter), paneer (cottage cheese), yogurt, curd, lassi, flavoured milk, dairy whitener and milk powder, which are sold under the brands Go, Gowardhan and Top Up.
