The Milky Way To Success

- Swarnendu Biswas

“By 2020, Indian dairy will see estimated supply chain investments of 2 billion USD, with a focus on the upstream link. Strong growth prospects, driven by formalisation of the market and growth of value-added dairy products, will drive these investments,” Rabobank noted in 2016.

Lucrative Business Opportunity

The market for dairy-based beverages in India is a market worth exploring. For it is a happening market with lots of growth potential. Especially, in the scorching Indian summers like these, players operating in the realm of dairy-based beverages can have a huge market, a market which can yield lucrative returns to the manufacturers. Among the value-added dairy products in India, the milk-based beverages have a very lucrative margin.

According to a report by the Tata Strategic Management Group, dairy beverages as a segment was estimated to post sales of Rs 6,400 crore in India by fiscal 2021, as compared with Rs 1,280 crore during fiscal 2015.

The stupendous growth in the dairy-based beverages market in post-modern India with its discerning consumers could be attributed to the growing health consciousness in the urban Indian society, along with less time to concoct healthy beverages at homes. The marked increase in disposable incomes in India during the last decade-and-a-half can also be regarded as a contributing factor towards the growth of India’s dairy-based beverages market. The health conscious and time-starved segment of the young generation of India, who are frequently on the go, are especially likely to love these dairy-based beverages.

Rabobank’s analyst Shiva Mudgil said sometime back that “The growing demand for milk-based beverages indicates a shift in consumer demand with rising purchasing power ... The market is still at a nascent stage in India, but is growing rapidly with newer players entering the fold and expanding rapidly.”