Amul takes lead in ice-cream battle

Despite having a lowest per capita consumption, pegged at 100-50 milliliters compared with 25 litres in the US, the Indian ice cream sector is growing by leaps and bounds.

Currently valued over Rs 1,500 crore, main players of the industry are the Hindustan Lever Ltd's (HLL) Kwality Walls and Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation's (GCMMF's) Amul.

While the market share of Kwality Walls has seen a decline, Amul has emerged as the largest selling brand in the organised sector.

While Amul's sales grew steadily over past five years "" from a mere Rs 51 crore in 1998 to over Rs 160 crore in FY 2003 "", Kwality Walls has seen a decline in sales during the same period. Its sales stood at Rs 125 crore during 2003, down from Rs 155 crore in 1998.

Amul ice cream has a national presence with over 25,000 outlets in over 1,000 cities across the country.

"By 2010 we are targeting to become a Rs 1,000-crore ice cream brand. Amul is also planning to add 5,000 more outlets to consolidate its market position," said Khushrau Aibara, assistant manager, sales GCMMF.

When questioned about the declining national sales, J H Mehta, executive director, Kwality Walls, countered it by saying that Kwality Walls is the market leader in top five cities. "As per a AC Nielsen survey done in 2003, Kwality Walls was the market leader in the top five cities with a market share of 31.7 per cent. Our next competitor, Amul's share was just 17.6 per cent."

Commenting about the national scene, Mehta said: "HLL decided to focus on improving the profitability of its ice cream business and consequently launched a new strategy in 2002 which focused on differentiated products in six key geographies.

Some unviable parts of portfolio such as Rs 2 sachets was done away with. It is not true that KW does not have strong presence in other parts of the country. It is truly a national brand which is available from Jamnagar in the west to Imphal in the east and from Kanyakumari in the south to Srinagar in the north.

"When we say we are focusing on six key geographies, we mean that marketing support like radio, outdoor is focused in these markets, while we continue to be available everywhere."

Kwality Walls is has strong presence in all the four metros and Bangalore and Hyderabad. Over 70 per cent of its business come from metros.

"We already have over 80 parlors which provide ice cream eating experience in an aspirational environment. We also have launched a new concept called Swirls in the north where consumer can decided his own combinations. The concept of parlors is showing excellent results both in terms of branding and sales," said Mehta.