RAIPUR: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurveda Limited (PAL) will invest Rs 671 crore to establish an agriculture and herbal food processing park at Bijetala village in Rajnandgaon district about
100 km west of Raipur.
An MoU was signed between the Chhattisgarh government and the PAL in the presence of chief minister Raman Singh at his official residence in Raipur.
According to the pact, the Patanjali unit will process and produce aloe vera juice, tomato ketchup, honey, amla juice, frozen vegetables and other food products based on regional agriculture produce. The upcoming facility will come up in an area of 500 acres. The company is convinced the venture will generate jobs for over 2400 persons and benefit thousands of farmers.
With the Chhattisgarh government’s focus now on the non-core sector, the state is encouraging and promoting food processing industry, which is poised for huge growth in the coming years, the officials said.
Appreciating the Patanjali investment, the chief minister Singh assured the company of every essential support. “The contribution of food processing industries will be significant to achieve the target of doubling farmers' income by 2022 in the state”, the CM stated.
Acharya Balkrishna, the director of Patanjali, who signed the MoU with the state said that their initiative in Chhattisgarh will generate employment opportunities and help the farmers in a big way.
The company has already aimed to invest Rs 5000 crore across the country in the current financial year.
Patanjali with its fast-growing FMCG products has in October this year jumped to 19th rank from the earlier 45th position in the Forbes magazine (India Rich) list of 2017.