Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, May 1: Lockdown, weekend curfew etc have delivered a deadly blow to the ice-cream industry that has an annual turnover of Rs 20,000 crore nationally, of which Karnataka has a share of Rs 1,200 crore. Walls, Dairy Day, Hangyo, Arun, Ideal, and Natural etc together have together built an empire that caters to the taste buds of the people. The ice-cream sector was hopeful of coping up with the loss it suffered in the previous months by doing brisk business during the summer. Usually, 30 percent of the annual ice-cream sale happens during April and May. But night curfew, lockdown-like curfew etc have flattened the industry like bolts from the blue.

 
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Not only big businessmen, even the small outlets depend heavily on ice-cream trade. Well-known brands like Amul, Wall’s, Dairy Day, Ideal, Hangyo, Arun, etc have their own sets of stanch customers. But this time, across the board, everyone in the ice-cream industry is taking a hit.

Pradeep G Pai, treasurer of Indian Ice-creams Manufacturers Association (IICMA) says that ice-cream had brisk business during March but during the last two weeks, the trade has sunk. He said that the industry is being run without any business for seven months as June to September is the rainy season. Dairy Day owner and IICMA vice president, A Balaraju, said that the ice-cream sector was expected to grow at the annual rate of 14 percent between 2021 and 2026. Mukund Kamath, Ideal Ice-creams owner, said that the ice-cream industry normally produces high quantities of ice-creams during March, but the COVID issue has worried the manufacturers a lot.