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Pune may soon have milk vending machines

Pune: Any time milk. This is the motto of the soon to be launched 24-hour milk vending machines in the city. To be started in early April, the Katraj Dairy that runs the Pune District Milk Producers' Federation will be the first one to implement the idea in Pune.

Gujarat and Delhi have milk vending machines, run by Amul and Mother Dairy. But the concept is new to Maharashtra where competition among milk producers was on the rise. “We will target the employed class who need milk any time in the day. We will start with two machines initially on a trial basis and expand later,” said Rambhau Tule, president of the Pune District Milk Producers' Federation.

Katraj dairy sells close to 1.2 lakh litres of milk in a day, he said. Apart from the fact that customers would get milk at any time of the day, they would get it cheaper than at any store, Mr. Tule said. “This enables us to cut down on the cost of distribution. So we can provide milk at a lower price,” he said. The federation is undertaking a survey to identify its customer base, with a view to expand the services in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad areas. Milk by-products will be added in the months to come.

The team from the federation had earlier visited Anand in Gujarat where the idea of the milk vending machine first took seed. The federation had designed the machine, which was manufactured by an Ahmedabad-based firm, Mr. Tule added.

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Pune may soon have milk vending machines

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