As multinationals home in on baby foods, Amul gears up

Plans to aggresively push its infant food product Amulspray

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Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), owners of one of the largest food brands in the country - Amul, is looking to push its infant food product Amulspray aggressively as competition in the Rs 2,500-crore infant food category increases.

Danone, ranked number two globally in baby nutrition after Nestle, is stepping up its efforts in the category following its recent acquisition of Wockhardt's portfolio of products including Farex, Dexolac and Nusobee.

Nestle enjoys leadership in the category in India thanks to strong recommendation from doctors. It may be noted here that baby foods cannot be advertised in India. The only avenue available to players to showcase their products is at the point of sale, which is exploited to the hilt by companies. 

In a recent interaction with Business Standard, Danone's vice-president for baby nutrition in the Asia-Pacific region Dariusz Kucz had said the focus would be on local manufacturing as the company contemplates launching new variants in India.

Amul, meanwhile, is expected to continue pushing Amulspray aggressively via retail channels, GCMMF's managing director R S Sodhi said. He says that Amulspray has sales of Rs 1,600 crore at the moment.