NEW DELHI: Ice cream industry has a reason to cheer as products are flying off the shelves after two washed-out years. As heatwaves sweep the country, people are increasingly resorting to ice creams for relief.
The Indian ice cream manufacturers' association (IICMA) says that the market is growing at an average rate of 15 per cent this year. Some companies, in fact, have been seeing a growth of over 50 per cent this season. The COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the industry in last two years.
According to IICMA, the estimated annual Indian ice cream market is nearly Rs 10,000 crore-Rs 15,000 crore and the loss has been that of nearly 50-70 per cent. IICMA president Sudhir Shah says, "Due to COVID, many small companies are wiped off. They are closed permanently."
He goes on to add that this year demand has exceeded supply, and manufacturers are not able to cater to it due to lack of proper estimation of market demand. However, he adds some companies are able to meet demand in the current season and hence they are able to grow by 50 per cent also.
On sales this year, Shah, notes while exact data is not yet available, the estimated data for the current year Indian ice cream market is about Rs 25,000 crore. Experts say that if this momentum continues, the industry will finally see the first solid season of ice-cream sales in the last three years.
Naturals Ice Cream is seeing a 40-50 per cent YOY growth over the pre-pandemic year (2019). Siddhant Kamath, Director (Kamaths Ourtimes Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd.) "We expect the 40-50 per cent growth to continue this quarter. New markets are also contributing to growth," the company said.
In April, retail intelligence platform Bizom saw almost a tripling of sales as compared to last year. While March this year witnessed a 1.4x growth as compared to the same month last year, April witnessed a 3.2x growth, as per Bizom.
Akshay D'Souza, chief of growth and insights, Bizom says, "The hottest March in over 100 years and continuing heatwaves over large parts of India mean that customers are consuming significantly higher volumes of these."