Editor’s Note | Prashant Tripathi, Jordbrukare India
Shailja Tiwari’s recent profile on Havmor in Financial Express felt less like a corporate feature and more like a case study of how legacy Indian brands reinvent themselves with global capital, sharper positioning, and ingredient integrity. As the Indian frozen dessert market churns into a Rs 24,000 crore opportunity, Havmor’s trajectory—under South Korea’s Lotte Confectionery—is emblematic of how premiumisation, product authenticity, and strategic restraint are fast becoming the new playbook.
But to understand Havmor’s quiet but determined rise, we must place it against an increasingly contentious sector, particularly with the legal duel between Amul and Kwality Walls over frozen dessert labelling.
The Battle for “Real” Ice Cream: Why It Matters
In a country that produces more milk than any other, it’s almost poetic that the central controversy in the ice cream business is about whether or not what’s sold as “ice cream” even contains milk fat.
Amul, the dairy behemoth with a 21.2% value share in the organized market (and even higher in volume), has waged a public and legal war against Kwality Walls’ nomenclature, which uses vegetable fats in many of its products. Their legal skirmish has fueled consumer education, but also confusion.
In this muddied space, Havmor has positioned itself with clarity: it is only in the real dairy camp. As Komal Anand, its MD, rightly puts it, “Most of the brands people think of as ice cream are actually frozen dessert players.” That statement isn’t just branding—it’s a strategic moat in an increasingly discerning consumer market.
India’s Ice Cream Market: Heating Up
While anecdotal evidence suggests ice cream consumption is rising, the data we analysed from recent industry sources confirms just how brisk the growth has been:
- Havmor’s revenue grew from ₹563 crore in 2018 to ₹1,061 crore in 2024, clocking an 11.1% CAGR despite capacity constraints.
- Vadilal, Havmor’s closest competitor in structure and growth, shows almost identical momentum, growing from ₹622 crore in 2019 to ₹1,084 crore in 2024 (11.8% CAGR).
Graph: Parallel growth in net sales for Havmor and Vadilal from CY19 to CY24 reveals nearly identical trajectories, highlighting the resilience and opportunity in the premium dairy segment.
Meanwhile, Kwality Walls—often seen as a volume powerhouse—generated over ₹1,595 crore in revenue in FY24, but that number includes a large portion from frozen desserts, not dairy-based products.
Here’s a breakdown of estimated FY24 revenue and market share:
| Brand | Revenue (INR Cr.) | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|---|
| Amul | 2,552* | 21.2 |
| Kwality Walls | 1,595 | 13.2 |
| Vadilal (VEL+VDIL) | 1,033 | 8.6 |
| Havmor | 1,061 | 8.6 |
| Arun | 959 | 8.0 |
Amul’s revenue has been estimated by triangulating publicly available sources and adjusting for volume/value distinctions.
Premiumisation and Differentiation: The Krunch Strategy
Havmor’s Krunch bar—a layered indulgence built with Lotte’s Korean tech muscle—embodies the new Indian ice cream economy: high quality, regionally attuned, and globally benchmarked. Its complex production and selective rollout show a commitment to building aspiration without sacrificing consistency.
Chocolate, too, plays a central role in Havmor’s portfolio—not just as a flavour, but as a storytelling vehicle. During the IPL, chocolate variants like Zulubar outsold everything else at the Narendra Modi Stadium, reinforcing a trend: premium flavours are becoming the default in urban India.
What’s Driving Growth?
From our analysis in the Indian Ice Cream Market: An Exploratory Analysis (2024), five trends stand out:
- Regional Muscle: Gujarat, Maharashtra, and southern states like Karnataka are leading consumption growth, thanks to legacy players and rising disposable incomes.
- Cold Chain Maturity: Improved logistics have allowed brands to expand beyond metro cities, with pushcarts and D2C channels playing surprising roles—even for new-age brands.
- Start-up Surge: From Walko to Brooklyn Creamery to Go Zero, India’s new ice cream entrepreneurs are raising millions and experimenting with vegan, sugar-free, and Q-commerce-driven formats.
- Seasonality Smoothing: With better freezer penetration and all-season product positioning (e.g. desserts, smoothies), ice cream is moving from summer treat to year-round snack.
- Investor Interest: PE deals like Faering Capital’s investment in Hangyo and Kedaara’s acquisition of Dairy Day ($150M) signal growing institutional confidence.
Final Scoop
India’s ice cream market is no longer just about flavour—it’s about formulation, function, and front-end storytelling. Havmor’s Lotte-backed strategy, Amul’s moral high ground on dairy purity, and Kwality Walls’ aggressive scale-through-innovation model all reflect one thing: this category is no longer low-stakes.
As summer 2025 blazes forward and capacity constraints ease (Havmor’s new plant launched in Feb 2025), the industry may witness not just a consumption boom, but a clearer segmentation: one where dairy-based, ingredient-transparent players begin to pull ahead.
At Jordbrukare India, we’ll be watching—and reporting—the next scoops very closely.
