Amul plans ice-cream unit in Delhi in a year

The Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), which markets dairy products under the brand name Amul, is planning to set up an ice-cream production unit in Delhi.

The federation, which has ice cream production facilities at four places in Gujarat and two in Maharashtra, plans to open ice-cream manufacturing units in north and south India.

"We plan to start the Delhi plant within one year. This will be in addition to the four plants we have in Gujarat and two in Maharashtra," said RS Sodhi, Amul general manager (marketing).

The Delhi unit in the beginning would not produce ice- cream. "Once the units gets stre-amlined, ice-cream production will be started," Sodhi said.

He said Amul was targeting a 50 per cent growth in ice-cream sales this year over the past year. In 2003-04, the federation sold ice-creams worth Rs 170 crore. "This year we have set a target of Rs 250 crore," he said.

The federation produced 27 million litres of ice-cream in 2003-04 and aims at producing 35 million litres this year. "While new plants will take some time to become functional, we are expanding the capacity of existing plants to achieve the target," Sodhi said.

The federation has laun-ched an aggressive marketing strategy to make Amul the number one ice-cream brand in the country. The company has also launched new products named Amul Kulfi and Royal Indian Treat.

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Spreading wings

• The federation has ice-cream production facilities at four places in Gujarat and two in Maharashtra
• Amul is targeting a 50 per cent growth in ice-cream sales over the last year. In 2003-04, it sold ice-cream worth Rs 170 crore