A screenshot of the Mother Dairy ice cream page on Facebook

Guwahati, Oct. 3: Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board, is looking to tap Guwahati to get a foothold in the ice cream market of the Northeast.

“We are eyeing a 40 per cent share from the Rs 40-crore ice cream market of the Northeast in two years’ time. As of now though, we are focusing on Guwahati, which is by far the biggest market of the region. Our strategy is to adhere to the FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) model and, over the past week, we have started from 100 retail outlets in the city. We intend to be present in at least a 1,000 outlets in Guwahati in the next three years,” Subhashis Basu, business head, dairy products, Mother Dairy Fruit and Vegetable Pvt Ltd, told this correspondent during the launch of its range of ice creams here today.

The company also launched its Safal range of frozen vegetables here.

The ice cream market in the country is pegged at Rs 2,000 crore. As against an annual growth of 12 per cent in the segment, Mother Dairy, which forayed into ice creams in 1994, has grown by 30 per cent.

“Our turnover from ice creams is about Rs 300 crore, of which 10 per cent comes from the eastern region. But more than being the market leaders, we intend to build our brand in Guwahati to start with. Thereafter, we will look to tap Upper Assam and other states of the Northeast. The potential is immense here and we are confident that with over 80 varieties of ice creams on offer, our products would be accepted,” Basu said.

The three main categories — Fruto Lic, Chillz and Kulfi — are available in several variants. In the premium classic range, there are fruit, Indian and western classics. “Our ice creams do not have artificial flavours and cater to customers of all ages and income groups. The range starts from Rs 5 and goes up to Rs 250. So, quality, variety and affordability is our USP,” he said.

Initially, 30 ice cream vending carts will operate in Guwahati. “The plan is to have 300 by the end of the year,” he added.

Mother Dairy has a share of 50 per cent in Delhi (NCR) region alone. “In Delhi alone, we sell over 30 lakh litres of milk everyday,” Basu said.

The NDDB subsidiary, however, has put plans to launch other dairy products in cold storage. “As of now, we do not have plans to launch products such as mishti doi, yogurt, lassi and cheese, among others, as their shelf life is limited. We launched a few of our dairy products in Calcutta a few months ago after tying up with a plant there,” he said.

“So, until we have a local plant, fresh and fermented products cannot be launched. Then again, we also have to have a viable market, which would be a demand of about 100 lakh litres per annum, to launch exclusive outlets or booths,” the official said.