Ravi Jaipuria set to enter dairy business.

Indian billionaire Ravi Jaipuria, PepsiCo's biggest bottler in South Asia, is looking to enter the country's highly unorganised Rs. 3 lakh crore dairy market by extending his Creambell ice cream brand.

Jaipuria, who runs the largest Indian franchisee of KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants and has exclusive franchise rights for coffee chain Costa Coffee, is looking to buy a dairy plant here to manufacture value-added dairy products such as cheese, butter, lassi and yoghurt.

Industry experts say Jaipuria's move is strategic since PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi had said the food and beverage major will explore bringing dairy products into India such as ready-to-drink breakfasts. PepsiCo's rival Coca-Cola is also firming up plans to enter the sector.

'Indians are increasingly looking at good-for-you products and dairy is one of them,' Jaipuria told TOI. 'Earlier, people made dairy products such as yoghurt and paneer at home. But now, they prefer buying packaged products. The sector will get hotter in the future. If PepsiCo shows an interest in it, we are ready to tie up with them. It will take us around six to eight months to get everything in place.' At present, Jaipuria operates two dairy brands in Africa, Creambell and Daima.

TOI