Consumer goods companies are increasingly looking to milk the potential of ‘white gold’, betting on one of the fastest-growing segments of India’s ready-to-drink beverage market: milk-based drinks.
The category isn’t new, but the way companies are selling it is changing. Hindustan Unilever Ltd, India’s largest consumer goods company, and Varun Beverages Ltd, PepsiCo’s largest bottler outside the US, are among those to have launched milk-based drinks that combine convenience with added protein and other functional benefits over the past two months.
The push reflects health-conscious consumers’ shift towards products that fit increasingly on-the-go lifestyles, while quick-commerce platforms are making it easier for newer brands and formats to reach them.
For Varun Beverages, dairy is already emerging as a faster-growing business. The category is expanding at more than 40% for the company and growing at three to four times the pace of its overall business, executive vice-chairman Varun Jaipuria said during its June-quarter earnings call.
The PepsiCo bottler reported 20.8% growth in the June-quarter revenue to ₹8,650.6 crore, while net profit rose 15.1% to ₹1,525.4 crore.
“Dairy as a category, we are very bullish on. We have been doing dairy as a category for many years now, and we are seeing huge growth coming,” Jaipuria said.
In July, the three-decade-old bottler partnered with Japan’s Asahi Group Holdings to introduce fermented milk drink Calpis in India, adding a new format to its value-added dairy portfolio.
Other consumer companies are following a similar playbook. Zydus Wellness Ltd has launched Complan Powerplay, a ready-to-drink protein milkshake, while expanding its Max Protein range.
Hindustan Unilever also launched Horlicks Milkshake in June, taking one of India’s best-known nutrition brands into the ready-to-drink category.
“Consumers want nutrition to fit into their routines rather than requiring them to create a routine around nutrition,” Tarun Arora, chief executive of Zydus Wellness, told Mint. “The barrier is increasingly not awareness or belief; it is friction.”
India’s flavoured milk drinks market grew to ₹7,600 crore in 2025 from ₹4,420 crore in 2021 and is said to reach ₹8,360 crore in 2026, according to data from market research and business intelligence firm Euromonitor.
Strategy consulting firm Redseer estimates that value-added dairy is growing at about 20% a year, faster than the broader ready-to-drink market. India’s ready-to-drink beverages market accounts for about 70% of the non-alcoholic beverages market and is growing at an estimated 18% compound annual growth rate, it said.
The opportunity extends well beyond protien-shake-buying urban consumers. Packaged dairy beverages have low household penetration, leaving companies room to convert consumption of homemade chaach, lassi and other drinks into branded, packaged formats.
“What is changing rapidly is the migration from homemade to packaged formats, driven by convenience, affordability, consistent quality and differentiated propositions such as probiotics and high protein,” Srideep Kesavan, CEO of Heritage Foods Ltd, told Mint.
Traditional products are central to that shift. Heritage saw volumes of buttermilk and lassi rise by more than 50%-60% during the summer, Kesavan said.