New Delhi: May 20: Ice creams are not only for the summer. Indians crave for them throughout the year, and biggies like Amul and Mother Dairy have realised it. Therefore, the companies have decided that the marketing season will be a round-the-year affair.

Amul is quite willing to launch products in the winter, and they already have launched brands in the cooler seasons. Festivals and weddings during the winter keep their sales up.

Mother Dairy claims that its sales drop by only 10 to 20 per cent during the winters. Its products sell well during September to November, which is the festive season.

Sales also vary according to the climactic conditions in the different parts of the country. People in the hilly areas may not be too keen on ice creams during the winter, but the residents of Mumbai and Calcutta do not mind having them in the cold weather. However, the take-home variety sells more than the impulse variety.

Amul is looking at a 30 per cent increase in its sales this year. Mother Dairy is expecting a 40 per cent rise in sales. As part of their growth strategies, both of the companies plan to focus on eastern India, which they feel has a tremendous potential.

Jayen Mehta of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd — which sells ice creams and other milk products under the Amul brand — said, “Amul has opened an ice cream facility at Chanditala, on the outskirts of Calcutta, last month. The factory has a capacity of 25-30,000 litres per month. We will open another in Guwahati soon.”

Mother Dairy has recently opened a factory in Dhulagarh, near Howrah.

Ice cream consumption in India is much lower than in other countries. The domestic per capita consumption is 500 ml per year against 4 litres in Singapore and 25 litres in the US. There is a scope for the market to grow almost seven-fold to reach the global average, ice cream marketers feel.

Food market analyst Navneet Malik said, “Most urban Indians no longer believe in old adages like having ice cream in winter has harmful effects on health. A cold dessert is fast becoming the choice of young urban professionals.”

Paul Thachil, CEO of Mother Dairy India, said, “Ice cream is more of an impulse buy, so we focus on the impulse market. We are strengthening this segment by introducing new tastes.”

The size of the branded ice cream market in India is estimated at Rs 1,000 crore and that of unbranded ice cream is roughly the same.

All the major players — such as Kwality Wall’s of HLL, Amul and Mother Dairy — have major expansion plans that include opening more selling points and introducing more flavours with specific socio-economic and age group targets.

Amul has introduced Prolife Probiotic Wellness and Sugar Free Probiotic Diabetic Delight along with Stamina in the ice candy format. Kwality Wall’s has introduced Cornetto Choco fudge, Kids SKUs like Bikimax and Choco Vanilla to keep you cool this summer.

Visibility is also important to push sales. Mother Dairy is planning to open 10,000 selling points, including both carts and parlours.

Kwality Wall’s plans to open more outlets but is focussing on malls, where it feels shoppers will concentrate more.

Mother Dairy is also taking advantage of the retail boom. It in talks with Food Bazaar, Reliance Retail and other chains to set up parlours within their stores. Amul is planning to make itself available in 50,000 more retail outlets.

While Kwality Wall’s is present in 20 cities, Mother Dairy is present in 50 cities and is targeting 50 more, Amul is already present in 10,000 cities.