A cooler than usual summer this year has impacted growth in sales of value added dairy products – curds, buttermilk and ice creams.
The dairy companies supply a range of products — ice cream flavour, kulfis, cones, bar, curd, lassi and cold coffees t–o cater to summer cravings, while this season so far has been less harsh leading to decline in sales.
“Our projected growth for summer-centric products has come down by 10% from what we had anticipated,”Manish Bandlish, MD, Mother Dairy, told FE. He said such seasonal fluctuations are expected and the company is prepared to handle the swing in weather conditions.
Bandlish said “the season started off very well for the summer centric categories, however, weather aberrations starting April end and in May have slightly dampened this momentum,”.
However he said that Mother Dairy, which distributes a major chunk of milk and dairy products consumed in the NCR Delhi region, is equipped to respond effectively in both the situations – peak summer and unexpected weather variations and “we remain hopeful to have a wonderful season for the balance of the year,”.
Mother Dairy, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board, supplies its products majority in Delhi-NCR region, which accounts for over 65% of its total sales. In FY25, the company had projected its revenue to increase by around 13% to Rs 17,000 crore from Rs 15,000 crore in 2023-24
According to industry estimates, 1.05 million litres of milk are supplied in Delhi – NCR, where Mother Dairy and Amul of Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) have about 70% share while the rest is supplied by the unorganised sector.
According to India Meteorological Department (IMD) rainfall across the country since March 1 – May 21, 2025 has been ‘above normal’ at 110% of benchmark – long period average.
The met department official had stated that the unusually cooler May is due to more rainfall in May compared to a dry April. Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, director general, IMD had earlier stated that frequent and intense thunderstorms in May will likely prevent temperatures from rising to the levels seen in May 2024.
“We are facing a little bit of stress in sales of various value added products including ice-creams and curds because of monsoon (rains) coming a few months earlier than anticipated,” Srideep N Kesavan, chief executive officer, Heritage Foods, the second biggest private organised dairy based in Hyderabad, said.
However Kesavan said adequate rainfall and prospects of above normal monsoon, on the milk procurement side offers ‘great news’ because water availability is expected to increase productivity of the animal. The flush season, when the milk production goes up, is likely to be normal and prices will remain stable this year, he said.
Heritage Foods, procures around 1.7 million litres of milk daily from 1.6 lakh farmers in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra and several other states. The company reported a sales turnover of Rs 4135 crore in FY25.
Experts say that above normal rainfall this monsoon season as predicted would boost green fodder supplies, a crucial animal feed and boost milk production.