After spending Rs550cr, Patanjali starts grinding flour, juice unit in six months

Nagpur: Seven years after the foundation stone laying function by then chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the much touted Patanjali Food and Herbal Park plant at Mihan finally started commercial production little over a fortnight ago. It has begun grinding flour to make biscuits. In the next six months, there are plans to start the juice making units.
For this, the machines are currently being installed. The plant will have a capacity to crush 400 tonnes of orange and mosambi (sweet lime) in a day. During the season, as much as 36,000 tonnes of fruit will be processed into juice. The pulp generated in the process will also be sold, said sources involved in the project.
A source said the company has so far pumped in over Rs550 crore in the Nagpur project. This has come from own funds as talks are under way to tie up finance also, the sources said.
Sources said the lack of a shorter road connecting it to the highway remains a major logistics hassle. A patch of 600m remains to be built, due to which a detour of around 12km has to be taken.
When Patanjali laid the stone for the project in Nagpur, company founder Baba Ramdev had announced starting an orange processing unit here. Dubbed the largest food complex, there were plans to consume a major part of oranges grown in the region
At present, as much as 40 tonnes of flour is ground for Patanjali’s inhouse use to make biscuits. In the coming days, the plant will run on double shift taking it to 80 tonnes. The grinding plant has a total capacity of grinding 150 tonnes of flour. In a month, the unit at Nagpur will also start grinding flour to be sold in packaged form for domestic use. This will lead to capacity utilization upto 120 tonnes a day, said a source.
The ultimate plan is to start the juice making plant so that the oranges grown in the region get a market. The machines for this have been procured from the US, said a source. The company will also be tying up directly with growers for procurement of fruit. Now, the question is whether there would be enough availability of oranges for the plant. Even as mosambi is available for a longer duration through the year, there is limited season for oranges, the source said.
The plant spread in an area of over 300 acre has started operations in the domestic tariff area (DTA) of the Mihan project. Patanjali has been allotted another 100 acres in the SEZ part also. Work on it is yet to begin, with even construction not lined up yet. Company sources said planning is under way to take up the SEZ project too.