Lotte to invest $55 mn in Indian ice cream subsidiary for 5 years

South Korea-based Lotte Confectionery Co. will invest  4.5 billion rupees ($55.1 million) in its Indian unit Havmor Ice Cream in the next five years to build a new greenfield plant at MIDC Talegaon in Pune, Maharashtra.

The facility is the first new plant to be built after Lotte Confectionery acquired Havmor in 2017 for 10 billion rupees, and Lotte will apply Korean food manufacturing technology and automated facilities.

Lotte said the rapid growth of Havmor called for an investment decision to expand its production capacity.

Havmor currently operates 216 franchises in India and continues to introduce Lotte's brands by launching its global best-selling ice cream World Cone in 2021 and drinkable ice cream Coolish last year.

The new plant to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2024 will be an addition to Havmor's existing manufacturing units in Ahmedabad and Faridabad.

Havmor expects to create 1,000 jobs in India through the establishment of the new plant.

"India is Lotte's strategic market, with headroom to grow further is large given that the per-capita consumption of ice creams is low compared with other Asian countries," said Havmor Ice Cream Managing Director Komal Anand.

"By establishing a new plant, and increasing our presence and availability in these 20 states, we will strengthen our position in the Indian ice cream market and become a market leader," he added.

Write to Hyeong-je Han at hankyung@hankyung.com