ITC set to ‘milk’ flavoured dairy beverages segment

Within ITC, the food business accounts for Rs 12,000 cr in consumer spend, while Sunfeast is a Rs 4,500 cr brand. Hemant Malik, Divisional Chief Executive – Foods, ITC, says, “Tamil Nadu is one of the largest markets for dairy products with almost 15 per cent consumption happening in this part. In September, we opened a very large facility, an ICML (Integrated Consumer Goods Manufacturing and Logistics Facility) in Pudukkottai, near Tiruchy, where biscuits, snacks and Atta will be manufactured. We are also setting up a large warehousing facility here, which should be ready in two years. The MoU was signed about two years ago, and we were ready by this September.”

ITC entered the food business 17 years back. Today, it is India’s third largest packaged food business. Malik adds, “We are India’s no 1 Atta brand with Aashirvaad. Our market share is close to 90 per cent in this segment. ITC has been working with farmers in Bihar to improve the quality of milk, working on artificial insemination programmes for more than a decade. This year happens to be a seminal year. we had launched our brand of Ghee Aashirvaad Swasti, which is available in Chennai as well, and has got a very encouraging response. This year we also got into the milk and curd business, in markets like Munger, Patna and recently in Kolkata. We have 30 to 40 per cent market share in some of these regions.”

Value added dairy business comprises flavoured milk, milk shakes, yogurts, cheese etc. The company is now entering the dairy beverage segment. This ready to drink beverage space is a Rs 2,500 cr category in the retail space as per Nielsen. Malik says, “We have made significant investments in the Kapurthala, Punjab plant. The packaged milk category is worth Rs 1,100 crores growing at the rate of 30 to 40 per cent. It’s one of the fastest growing categories, in the food space.”