Tirumala Dairy Managing Director B Brahma Naidu announced plans to set up the country's largest integrated dairy with an investment of Rs.6,000 Cr in the next three to five years, Wednesday, Hyderabad.

"The proposed dairy plant will be set up over 2,900 acres and we are planning an investment of about Rs 6,000 Cr which will be funded by banks, private equity and our own resources," Tirumala Dairy Managing Director B Brahma Naidu told reporters after launching the company's Skimmed and Toned milk in Tetra Pak packages here. The proposed dairy plant is expected to start by 2016-17”, he said adding "We are looking towards a pan-India dairy business. The dairy plant will have 20,000 cows with production capacity of 10 lakh litres per day."  Established in 1998, Tirumala Dairy has market presence in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. The private dairy which handles 12 lakh litres of milk a day at their various packing stations and dairy plants clocked a turnover of Rs. 1,200 Cr last year, Naidu said.

Tirumala launched its skimmed and toned milk in Tetra Fino Aseptic (TFA) package, collaborating with Swedish multinational food processing company, Tetra Pak. A 500 ml TFA-packaged skimmed and toned milk is priced at Rs.17 and Rs.18 respectively, Tirumala Dairy officials said. Unlike traditional milk packets, the TFA technology has a shelf life of 90 days from the date of manufacturing.