Dairy major Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation plans to take a plunge into the flavoured yoghurt business. The product will cater to the youth and health conscious.
The owner of the Amul brand will initially launch Yogi, a fruit flavoured yoghurt brand, in strawberry, mango and pineapple flavours.
"The response to the initial test marketing was positive and the company plans to roll out Yogi in early 2007. The company also plans to make a sugar free chocolates and ice-cream range soon," said R S Sodhi, chief general manager, GCMMF.
Explaining the rationale behind the diet-conscious focus, Sodhi said, "At present, the sub-25 segment is the major consumer of our brands. Market studies show they are looking for healthier alternatives to carbonated soft drinks."
In line with this, Amul has introduced a range of milk-based products such as Kool flavoured milk, Masti buttermilk and Dahi and Stamina energy drink over the last few years and recently Kool Cafe, which is ready to drink coffee.
"The beverages segment will be among the fastest growing segments in the next few years," said Sodhi. Of the Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion) beverages segment, non-carbonated drinks including fruit juices comprise only about 15 per cent.
While Amul as a whole has grown at about 16 per cent last year, Sodhi said the new brands grow in excess of 20-25 per cent, depending upon the category.
In ice-creams too, Amul is now looking at tapping the upper end of the mass market with relatively higher end products such as sundaes and soon sugar free ice creams which would be priced at a premium to the existing products. At present, Amul has 37 per cent share of the ice cream market and is the largest brand in the country.
"In future we will look at entering categories where we can provide a substantial value addition and there is lesser scope for others to introduce 'me-too' products," said Sodhi.
On a possible tie up with American chocolate company Hershey's, he said that it was too early to comment on the matter and that there had been no detailed discussions so far.