Magnum wants to turn Diwali into an ice-cream festival as GLP-1 drugs reshape food demand and India could be its biggest market, says CEO

Mumbai: GLP-1 drugs that are gaining popularity as a diabetes and weight-management tool and artificial intelligence-powered shopping are set to drive food consumption, with India, China and the US already witnessing the change, said Peter ter Kulve, chief executive of the Magnum Ice Cream Company.

"I believe that GLP-1 and agentic search and shopping will drive food consumption over the coming five, ten years. You see it already happening in certain markets like India, like China, like in the US," ter Kulve said at an investor conference this month.

Also read: Magnum plans three more factories to cash in on India's ice cream craze


The company, the world's largest ice-cream maker, is betting on the changing consumption habits and is looking to reformulate its products around emerging consumer preferences around protein, hydration and sugar reduction.

In India, it cut prices by 30%, shifting from vegetable-fat products to dairy ice cream and is installing about 70,000 cabinets, or commercial deep-freeze units, a year. The company, spun off from Unilever last year, is also building five factories in India to lower logistics and manufacturing costs.

India's ice-cream market, estimated to be roughly $2 billion, remains among the world's fastest growing, helped by a per-capita consumption of just 0.6 litres annually. The category is expanding at about 11%, faster than beauty products.

India, currently a $200 million business for the company, could eventually become its biggest market, the CEO said. Consumption could eventually reach 5 litres per person, taking India's market beyond that of the US, he said.

The push in India comes after Unilever spun off the business to give it greater autonomy and flexibility in fast-growing markets. The separation was intended to help the division move faster locally and compete more aggressively against regional players.

As part of that strategy, Magnum acquired a 61.9% stake in Kwality Wall's, which is listed in India and operates as a subsidiary of the Magnum group that controls more than a fifth of the world's ice-cream segment.

Also read: Magnum Ice Cream acquires 61.9% stake in Kwality Wall's

The push is already producing sharp volume growth. Ter Kulve said the company has recorded months in which volumes in India rose 40%, although growth has been helped by a low starting base and strong sales of popsicles.

The Amsterdam-listed maker of Magnum, Cornetto and Kwality Wall's believes the Indian business can eventually become profitable on a model similar to its Pakistan operations, which are slightly smaller than its current India business and are already profitable, he said.

"We basically had to decentralise our manufacturing," ter Kulve said. "Lower logistic cost, manufacturing cost will bring margins back in the business."

The company is seeking to broaden the occasions in which Indians consume ice cream, including by positioning the product around festivals. "Diwali is not an ice-cream festival yet, but we're turning it into an ice-cream festival," he said during the presentation.