Debabrata Mukherjee, MD, Havmor Ice Cream
Havmor Ice Cream garnered double-digit growth in the first half of the year despite the delayed onset of summers and unseasonal rains in certain parts of the country. The company, which was acquired by South Korean Lotte Wellfood Group in 2017, has tripled its business in the past 8-9 years on the back of distribution and supply chain expansion.Debabrata Mukherjee, MD, Havmor Ice Cream told businessline, “ The growth momentum during the summer season has been higher than expectations. We have garnered high double-digit growth in the first half of this year. The growth was reasonably balanced growth across both urban and rural markets. So while we have seen growth across popular price products at ₹10, the premium segment also witnessed strong traction. Hence, we are seeing a balanced growth between penetration and premiumisation this year.”The company has been ramping up its pan-India play and has also been expanding manufacturing footprint with its state-of-the-art plant in Pune. “We have tripled the business in the past 8-9 years. We have expanded our footprint with our ice-cream factory in Pune. We have also doubled our distribution footprint in the past three years and now sell across 100,000 outlets and 250 ice-cream parlours,” he added.Wider Portfolio“We will continue to focus on strategic geographical expansion and expanding our supply chain footprint to further scale our business. This will be done through putting more deep freezers at retail outlets and having a wider portfolio anchored on innovation,” Mukherjee explained.While the company has been strengthening its local innovations play with ice cream products like Mahabaleshwar Strawberry, Guava Chilli and matka kulfi, it is also witnessing strong traction for its international portfolio products such as World Cone and Subak bars.Selective HikeIce-cream category has also been witnessing a tailwind due to the growth of the quick-commerce channel. “Quick-commerce channel has added a huge amount of positive momentum for categories like ice-creams. Over the past two years, we have seen the quick commerce contribution to our business has tripled. We are also seeing a growth in in-home consumption for ice-creams. At the same time, the retail outlet channel has also performed well,” he added.Asked about price hikes due to inflationary pressures due to geopolitical conditions, Mukherjee said that while the company has taken a selective price hike in the premium segment, it has kept its popular price points such as ₹10 unchanged.Published on July 10, 2026
