Reliance takes its discount playbook to ice cream. Will it work?

Reliance has picked a tough business to enter.

Of all the packaged consumer goods categories it could have chosen, the conglomerate has opted for ice cream, a market where building scale is expensive and distribution is complicated. That is one reason why there are so few national players. Dairy companies such as Amul and Mother Dairy have an obvious advantage, while regional brands such as Dinshaw’s, Rollick, Vadilal and Arun Icecreams command strong positions in their home markets and, together, account for over half the market. At the premium end, smaller artisanal brands have built their own following.