A Sri Lankan dairy equipment company says it’s close to becoming the market leader for refrigerated milk cooling tanks and soft ice cream machines in India in a market dominated by four other players.
N. Sivakumaran, Chairman and Managing Director of Promoters and ISF Group of companies, operating in India and Sri Lanka, said its Indian subsidiary, ISF Industries (Pvt) Ltd has already captured 54% market share bringing in dairy equipment from Sri Lanka taking advantage of the South Asian Free Trade Arrangement (SAFTA). “We are currently processing an order received from one of the Amul Group of Companies to supply Indian Rs. 70 million worth of refrigerated milk cooling tanks to be installed in the state of Gujarat,” he told the Business Times last week.

ISF has manufactured, installed and commissioned over 750 milk cooling tanks and is today the largest supplier of food and dairy equipment in India. The company’s manufacturing facilities can produce over 500 milk cooling tanks per year, Mr Sivakumaran said. ISF became the first company to launch locally manufactured micro processor controlled 10000 litre-capacity refrigerated cooling tanks at the recently held All India Dairy Conference held in the Conventional Centre at Bangalore.

Mr Sivakumaran says the company has rapidly expanded its operations in India, setting up two large manufacturing units in Chennai and sales and service offices in Delhi, Moga, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Hyderabad, as the demand for cooling tanks grows in India, the largest milk producer in the world. The company is now enhancing its manufacturing facilities to triple production capacity.

In 1995 Nestle India Ltd placed an order with ISF for the importation of milk cooling tanks from Sri Lanka. That led the way for more business with the company supplying not only Nestle India but also a diversified range of customers such as Hindustan Lever, Heinz India, Van Mallee, TTK-LIG, Britannia Industries, Carborandum Universal, ITC and many more.

The company is also making ice cream machines for export to Germany, Norway, Denmark, the Middle East and India. ISF entered into this business when Hindustan Levers wanted them to design, manufacture and supply soft ice cream machines to launch their new product Walls Soft Ice Cream. Today ISF makes the machinery in Sri Lanka while its subsidiary company in India handles the marketing process, Mr Sivakumaran said. The ISF supplies these machines to local KFC outlets as well, he said.

ISF has embarked into hi-tech Process Technology in collaboration with two companies in Finland and Denmark, to produce long life milk in polypacks, being introduced in India for the first time. Two projects have been launched with an investment of 3 million Euros at Sri Vijaya Visaka Milk Producers in Andhra Pradesh. ISF expects to set up minimum 10 such plants this year. Long life milk in poly packs will replace the conventional pasteurized milk in polypacks which requires cold storage facility and cold chain for distribution, Mr Sivakumaran said.

ISF Sri Lanka has just completed setting up of five mini dairy processing plants on turnkey basis in the Eastern Province funded by the Asian Development Bank. These five projects were equipped with world class equipment and up to date technology and completed in record time.

From his humble beginning as a rebuilder of engines of automobile and agricultural machinery in Jaffna in 1977 after passing out as a mechanical engineer in the UK, the ISF founder has grown to be a leading dairy processing plant manufacturer supplying to Sri Lanka’s major food and dairy processing multinational and exporting to a number of countries.

Currently there are around 550 employees in the Sri Lankan operation out of which 25 are highly experienced Mechanical Engineers. Similarly there are over 100 employees working in the factory in India.