Not so sweet: The Vadilal family feud may hit its future prospects

The eight-decade-old Gujarat-based ice cream maker Vadilal Industries is perhaps going for a split two years after a long drawn family feud.

One of India's largest ice cream brands had started with modest beginnings in Ahmedabad in the early 1900s.

Sources claim the company was not on the block even as one of the brothers looked for an exit.

Vadilal's managing director Rajesh Gandhi could not be reached for a comment on the split.

Founder Vadilal Gandhi started selling ice creams in India much before ice creams were an industry here. From selling sodas in 1907, Vadilal has travelled through four generations of Gandhis to become a Rs 500 crore company now.

While exact brand shares are not known, Vadilal roughly enjoys a 14-16 per cent share of India's Rs 4,000 crore ice cream market that is clocking a 15-17 per cent annual growth. The market is well poised to grow as India's current per capita ice cream consumption is low - at 400 ml (as against Pakistan's 700 ml, US' 24 litres, and Australia's 26 litres per capita consumption).

Vadilal now has a production capacity of 375,000 litres per day (lpd) at two plants. Its Ahmedabad facility (210,000 lpd) is the largest such facility in India at a single location. Vadilal, in fact, was one of the first companies in India who imported ice cream making machines way back in 1926.

Vadilal's managing director Rajesh Gandhi had told Business Standard earlier that the company is eyeing an 18-20 per cent growth for the next five years.