Jaipuria Enters Packaged Milk Sector

The Jaipuria group, which brought the French ice cream brand Cream Bell into India, three years ago, has now entered the packaged milk segment.

The Jaipuria group, which brought the French ice cream brand Cream Bell into India, three years ago, has now entered the packaged milk segment. The Jaipuria group company Universal Dairy Products, which has a technical tie-up with the French dairy major Soddial, has launched the Cream Bell brand of pouch milk in Uttar Pradesh.

The company is now selling about 10 million litres of the Cream Bell ice cream every year, and this brand would be launched in Mumbai over the next few months. The milk is currently packaged at its facility in Agra, but the group plans to begin packaging at a new facility at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh soon, before going for a third site in south India early next year.

Mr. M.S. Parikh, CEO of Universal Dairy, said, “Our total investment in the dairy business would cross Rs. 100 crore by next year, by when we plan to have three manufacturing sites — Agra, Baddi and a plant in the south — for the cream and pouch milk business. We are now test-marketing the milk in Uttar Pradesh.”

Universal’s foray into the packaged milk follows an unsuccessful attempt last year to sell Ultra Heat Treated (UHT) milk under the Cream Bell brand in plastic bottles. Parikh also indicated that Universal will be getting into other dairy products such as yoghurt, lassi and UHT lassi under the Cream Bell brand and the first of these products will hit the market early next year.