Milk giant Amul will soon set up a dairy unit in Thane district of Maharashtra.

The first unit will come up in the Vasai area, Amul general manager K Ratnam said in Thane on Sunday.

The Rs 140-crore (Rs 1.4-billion) plant will collect around 10 lakh (1 million) litres of milk daily, Ratnam said while addressing a function organised by the Institute for Psychological Health at Thane.

Amul had sometime back set up a small

unit at Rajgurunagar in Pune district of Maharashtra, but now they will be setting up a larger unit in Vasai, he said.

There is large scale production of milk in Vasai-Virar region and there are not many local dairies, he said, adding Amul will have a lot of opportunities there.

Amul, the dairy cooperative based in Anand district of Gujarat, is not just a brand but a movement that has helped improve the economic situation of the farmers of Gujarat, he said.

Formed in 1946, it is a brand managed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd.