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Sudha Menon

The company was following this up with a range of low-fat ice-creams labelled `Slim Scoop' and a fibre-rich Isbagul ice-cream.

PUNE, April 24

THIRSTY? Don't reach for that bottle of thanda. Instead, have a bottle of flavoured milk, or a refreshing lassi.

Dairy major Amul all set to launch a slew of products which will be pitted against beverage/cola majors and seek to grab market share by positioning itself as a manufacturer of healthier drinks.

Beginning this summer, Amul will woo customers with dairy and non-dairy products, at least a couple of which will be pioneering products in the branded dairy industry. First off the mark this May will be a range of flavoured lassis, to be retailed in attractive PET bottles designed to grab customer eyeballs away from retail shelves groaning under the weight of artificial beverages and colas.

The lassis, which would probably be launched under the `Masti' brand, would be initially available in rose and kewada flavours and to be bottled at the Mehsana dairy, Mr Rajneesh Potey, Depot-in-Charge, Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (Pune), told Business Line. The company will follow this up with what would probably be an industry first in the branded ice-cream market - a range of low-fat ice-creams labelled `Slim Scoop' and a fibre-rich Isbagul ice-cream.

"While there is a demand for such products in the market, volumes will be limited in this niche category so they will be promoted through point of purchase promos," Mr Potey said.

Amul's range of flavoured milk, which was launched recently across western India, was creating major inroads in the marketplace where it had found acceptability cutting across the urban-rural divide, he said. "In the six weeks since the launch in Pune city alone, we have sold over 3,25,000 bottles of the flavoured milk and are finding huge response in rural places such as Nandurbar, Kolhapur, Satara," he said.

Plans were now being firmed up to rapidly roll out the product, into all the major metros, he said. Bottling arrangements were now being put in place. In Maharashtra, Amul was setting up two new bottling plants, one at its existing facilities at Nagpur and another one at a location near Mumbai to cater to the huge market in the metropolis.

"Our target is to sell a million bottles of flavoured milk every day within the next one year'', Mr Potey said.

"We plan to launch the soups business with a tomato, sweet corn and vegetable soup variants," Mr Potey said, adding the products would be launched in the next 6-8 months.

Meanwhile, Amul's milk retailing business, which ventured out of Gujarat six months ago, was making major inroads into the western markets, especially Maharashtra. Its entry into the Pune market, for example, created major upsets in the existing scenario, which was dominated by local majors such as Chitale Dairy in the premium segment, which had to bring down its price to retain market shares.

"We sell over 26,000 litres of fresh milk in the city everyday and over 30 per cent of Amul's turnover in the city now comes from this alone," says Mr Potey. Amul milk sells an average of 15,000 litres every day in other places such as Nashik and Nagpur and 36,000 litres/day in Indore where it was launched recently.

Amul's game plan is to attack existing players through aggressive pricing, better quality, enhanced distribution network and strong marketing push. In keeping with this strategy, the flavoured lassi range will be available, tentatively, at Rs. 10 (500ml) and Rs 8 (300 ml). The flavoured milk range is available for Rs 10 (200 ml bottle) as against milk drinks, which are available upwards of Rs 12.

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