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The ice cream industry is ready to prosper once again with a new perspective
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Thursday, 11 February, 2021, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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Sudhir Shah
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Last year was tough, and we suffered greatly due to many reasons. The major one being the lockdown that started during the peak season of business. This affected parlours, small players with limited local presence and retail outlets, as they had to remain shut during this period. The media report analysis suggests that the ice cream industry has lost more than 60 per cent of its business so far.
To get the Indian Ice Cream Manufacturers Association (IICMA) back on track, with effort, a new course of action will be taken. Our government has already been announcing many relief measures to help the economy recover. The question of how these measures will be useful for the IICMA will be discussed when the association meets, whether it’s online or offline. Our focus now is to be aligned with government initiatives. We are already working on the government e-portal where we feed in our requirements and they will notify us of the best times or best rates for the supply of Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) and other goods.
For various goods and services, new regulations have been introduced by the FSSAI. A meeting with the identified FSSAI technical expert will be conducted on subjects of sample collection, lab testing, adjudication, licensing and registration of FBOs. On the other hand, we plan to launch an ice cream and dairy help centre with a 24x7 helpline number where any member can leave a question that will be resolved by an expert panel.
We will also put together strong media campaigns and spread awareness to make sure correct information reaches all members and clients alike. It will help us bust myths and inform people of facts like how ice cream is notsimilar to other refrigerated products that can be harmful to human health. In fact, in many places, ice cream is given to children instead of milk to provide all the necessary nutrients in a tastier package.
Our love for ice cream has been growing as we age from children to adults. IICMA believes the ice cream industry in India has a bright future and is expected to grow continuously.
Reports are a reflection of our beliefs. They have found that the market grew at a CAGR of 14.1 per cent during 2014-2019 alone. The healthy growth of the market can be attributed to several factors like population growth, rising disposable incomes, urbanisation rates and changing consumer preferences. The per-capita consumption of ice cream has been continuously increasing every year according to our statistics:
New technologies that could make our products even safer and healthier are yet to enter the market. As a growing industry, our focus will be on low-cost automation. This will be an affordable and systematic way of manufacturing ice cream that is untouched by humans. While biological hazards are the greatest challenges faced by the Indian ice cream market today, with the right technological innovation, they will be overcome.
We gathered unique and effective measures during testing times and now, we will put them into practice with dedication. We hope our efforts promise good days ahead with opportunity, recovery and growth for the industry in our future.
(The author is managing director at Scoops Ice-Cream and president of IICMA)
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