ITC enters dairy market, set to launch Aashirvaad ghee

KOLKATA: Aashirvaad ghee will make its debut this Diwali as ITC enters the dairy market, extending the product range of its biggest non-cigarette brand. The company is looking to replicate the success it achieved in the unorganised and commoditised atta segment with the Aashirvaad brand, under which it also sells spices and other food products.

"The Aashirvaad brand has tremendous brand equity among households and housewives, so we have decided to launch ghee under the Aashirvaad umbrella to make an instant impact and give the product a big leg up," said VL Rajesh, ITC's divisional chief executive, foods.

Aashirvaad is a Rs 2,600-crore brand and controls 74 per cent share of the country's packaged atta market, which ITC entered in 2002, a year after getting into packaged food with ready-to- eat products. Several dairy related categories are in various stages of development as part of ITC's plans to extend its portfolio, Rajesh said. This includes ice-cream, butter, cheese, curd, milk-based drinks and ready-to-mix products similar to Complan and Horlicks.

The Rs 75,000-crore packaged dairy market in India is expected to grow at 15-16 per cent as companies introduce value-added products, according to industry estimates. Of this, the packaged milk market alone is around Rs 50,000 crore, while ghee is about Rs 8,500 crore. India is the largest producer and consumer of dairy products.

ITC Limited