New Delhi: Yoga guru Baba Ramdev on Thursday announced Patanjali Ayurved's foray into the Rs 8,000-crore dairy industry by launching cow milk and milk-based products, including curd and cheese. The company will also launch frozen products such as peas, mixed vegetables and French fries as well as a bottled water brand - Divya Jal.

"We are aiming to have a business of Rs 1,000 crore next fiscal (from the products launched on Thursday). This fiscal, we would have a business of Rs 500 crore," said Ramdev, adding that Patanjali's "milk would be cheaper than other established brands by Rs 2".

In the dairy segment, Patanjali will be fighting it out with market leaders Amul and Mother Dairy, both run by farmers' cooperatives. Other players in the field are Nestle, Parag, Danone, Britannia, Prabhat and Nandini.

Dairy sector consultant Ashish Banerjee said: "It will be interesting to see how they battle it out as both Patanjali and Amul use the 'Swadeshi' tag to market their products."

The Indian dairy industry accounts for about 18 per cent of global milk production and stands second behind European Union. Some 64 per cent of the Indian dairy market is of liquid milk and another 15 per cent of ghee. Paneer, cheese, butter, curd make up the remaining 21 per cent.

The nearly Rs 11,000-crore turnover Patanjali, which already sells cow ghee and milk powder, has launched its cow milk-based products such as curd, buttermilk and paneer in Northern India and Maharashtra in the first phase. It plans to go pan-India gradually as well as add flavoured milk and ice-cream to its portfolio.

Banerjee said: "It was natural for Patanjali to get into the wider range of dairy business given that its ghee is its largest selling product." Patanjali ghee earned Rs 1,467 crore in sales in 2016-17.

The Haridwar-based Patanjali said it had established a network of around 56,000 retailers. "We are targeting 10 lakh litre of daily milk sales," Ramdev said.

The company will procure milk from farmers, executives said. Patanjali said it produced 4 lakh litres of cow milk on the very first day of its operations.

Mother Dairy on Thursday said: "The consumer response for our cow milk has been overwhelming ... we welcome competition, including Patanjali."