Pm'S Son Seeks Dereservation Of Ice Creams

Under the existing industrial policy, the manufacture of ice cream is reserved exclusively for the small-scale units.

In a recent letter to the minister, which Revanna wrote in his capacity as the chairman of Karnataka Milk Federation, the Prime Minister's son has asked for a review of an earlier decision of the ministry to reject an application by his federation for a COB (carry-on-business) licence to manufacture ice creams.

Revanna, who is also on the board of directors of the NDDB, said in the letter that the small-scale sector reservation norms should be relaxed for the federation as it is essentially a co-operative of small farmers.

 

The file has been forwarded to the minister for food processing who is believed to have been advised by his department that the matter be referred to the Union cabinet as

Revanna's move is believed to be the latest in a series of manoeuvres by National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) whose massive expansion plans in the ice cream field had earlier run foul of the government regulations regarding small-scale sector reservation when the ministry rejected its application for an industrial licence to manufacture ice creams.

Revanna joined the board of directors of NDDB after the government reconstituted the board on August 30 while retaining Kurien as the chairman.

The National Dairy Develop- ment Board has already started marketing ice creams through their Mother Dairy outlets in Delhi and is all set to take on the might of multinationals like Unilever. However, the Anand-based cooperative, headed by Verghese Kurien, has franchised out the manufacturing contracts for its ice cream products to small-scale outlets.

The entry of cooperatives into the ice cream business have come under scrutiny with the Development Commissioner of Small Scale Industries last year ordering a probe into the investments made by NDDB at its Mother Dairy plant in the capital.

Revanna's demand comes close on the heels of a move by multinationals like Unilever which have also being pushing for deresevation of the ice cream sector. Unilever, which has recently acquired the Kwality and Milk-food brand names in India, has tried to bypass the SSI reservation policy by setting up a manufacturing facility for vegetable-fat based "frozen desserts".