Blackburn Rovers’ prospective new owner aims to turn the club into a top four side — and India into a nation of Rovers fans.

Anuradha Desai told of her family's plans in an exclusive interview – the first given to British media – with the Lancashire Telegraph.

And she said her message to supporters was that the club is ‘in safe hands’, pledging to 'continue Jack Walker's wonderful legacy'.

Mrs Desai said an initial £5million would be made available to buy players in January.

But she pledged to invest ‘much more’ in the summer to make sure that the club can be competitive at the top of the Premier League.

Mrs Desai said all options, including the possibility of allowing sponsorship of Ewood Park, would be investigated.

And a major plan is turning Rovers into India's club.

Mrs Desai, who heads up the family firm Venky's, one of the world's largest poultry and pharmaceutical firms, said: "There is a new generation of boys aged between 10 and 17 in India that are football mad but lots of them support Chelsea.

“I believe that at this time we can make the market for football in India grow. Having Indian owners in the Premier League will create a lot of interest here and I think we can try to create a whole nation of Blackburn Rovers fans.

“The takeover has made the front pages of all of the newspapers here. That shows the interest that is there.

“My dream is to make Blackburn Rovers an even bigger brand in India than Venky’s.”

On transfer funds, she said: "Initially there will be £5million put in, straightaway, to buy players but of course if we have to do more then we will.

“There will then be much more investment and we have devised a spending strategy already for the next three years that will see the manager given significant funds to buy players.

“I am not promising that we will be a top four team but I can promise that we will try and that is what we will aim for.

“We are committed to improving the performance of the team and when the situation is right there will be investment."

The Economic Times of India yesterday reported £5million was the extent of the transfer kitty.

But Mrs Desai said: "There will be much much more than £5million and we want the fans to know that.

“We are trying to complete the deal as fast as possible because we are very excited about the prospect of owning a Premier League club.

“We will do the best by the fans and also by the club and it is very important to continue the traditions of the club.

“We are going to be good responsible owners and we want to make the club stronger."

Mrs Desai's brothers Balaji and Venkatesh Rao have been in England completing the £46million deal to buy the club.

She said her brothers will be at Rovers’ home match against Chelsea on Saturday.

And she said Balaji, in particular, was a football fanatic and a Blackburn Rovers fan.

Mrs Desi said: "We are fully committed to Blackburn Rovers. This is not just another investment to us.

"We are fully committed to the success of the club. That is how my family is with every venture we take on.

“We will be taking a very hands-on role in the way that the club is run because we are passionate about making this a big success.

“We are a very traditional company with strong values and we feel that Blackburn Rovers is a perfect fit for us because of its similar history and values.”

She said there were many paralells to be drawn between the legacy that her father left her when he turned Venky’s into a world leader and the impact that Jack Walker had on Rovers.

Mrs Desai said: “Our firm was set up by my father and we have built on his success and made the firm even bigger as a family.

“We now want to take those family values forward into the future and ensure the continuing wellbeing of the club.

“We will do our best to see that our fans, both in Blackburn and across the UK and the world, can be proud of the job that we do for them.

“We will be totally committed to do our best to improve Blackburn Rovers and will do whatever it takes to ensure that we can continue the wonderful legacy that Jack Walker and his family have left us.

“My father left a fantastic legacy and I have been able to build on that at Venky's. That is what we are looking at here at Rovers.”

Mrs Desai is the chair of Venky’s and the rest of the board is made up of her brothers, the joint managing directors, and her husband Jilendra Desai.

She said that the family would not take a ‘hands-off’ role in the running of the club, as had been speculated.

And she said it was far too early to talk about the futures of chairman John Williams or manager Sam Allardyce.

Mrs Desai said: “My brothers will be very much involved in the running of the club. I will be coming over soon with my family.

“Please tell the fans that we are totally committed to them and to the club.”

Mrs Desai, 47, a married mother-of-one, took the helm of the family firm after the death of her father, a prominent citizen who was award India's highest civic honour, in 1996.

She is said to have run the firm with panache, confounding doubters who did not think she had the credentials.

Her leadership is said to have been instrumental in the rapid growth of the family firm across 25 countries in recent years.

Mrs Desai was educated in Puna, where her company is based, and graduated from university with a degree in economics.

She has a 17-year-old daughter called Uttara, who is a student.

Asked about her interests she said she was ‘a businesswoman, very much committed to industry’.