Yakult Danone India is planning to invest Rs 136 crore to set up a fermented milk drink project at the Food Park developed by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) at Rai in Sonepat.HSIDC managing director Rajiv Arora said the project, proposed to befinanced entirely through foreign equity by partner companies, would be the first major foreign direct investment on the National Highway I in Haryana.Yakult Danone India is a joint venture between Japan-based Yakult Honsha Company and Danone Probiotics, a Singapore-based subsidiary of the Danone Group, France.Arora said the installed capacity of the project would be 11.44 lakh bottles of 65 ml of fermented milk drink per day to be achieved in four phases. The company is planning to launch its products by the beginning of next year, and is expected to give stiff competition to existing flavoured milk brands and lassi in the Indian market.Arora said that Yakult was founded about 70 years ago in Japan by a pioneering scientist Dr. Minoru Shirota who was committed to the idea ofpreventive medicine to avoid sickness. During the course of his research,Shirota cultured a beneficial and powerful bacterium, which is now knownall over the world as Lactobacillus Casei Strain Shirota. This bacterium is at the heart of Yakult's business in Japan and 25 other countries all over the world. In its international operations, Yakult has focused on their pillar product - Yakult, which is a fermented milk drink containing the Shirota bacterium.
