Best Ice Cream Brands in India (2026)

India's ice cream shelf is a happy mix of giant dairy cooperatives, century-old family businesses, regional champions and newer premium labels. The brand your family trusts often depends on where you live: a Nagpur household may swear by Dinshaw's, a Chennai home by Arun, and an Ahmedabad freezer is rarely without Vadilal or Havmor. This guide profiles twelve leading ice cream brands sold in India — who owns them, where they come from, what each one is known for, and who it suits best.

This is an editorial selection, not an official ranking. The order below is not a league table, and we have not used market-share or sales figures to arrange it. Availability also varies sharply by city and state, because ice cream is a frozen product that travels in refrigerated supply chains; a brand that is everywhere in Gujarat may be hard to find in Guwahati. Use the profiles to match a brand to your taste — milky classics, fruit-led scoops, kulfi, cones or premium parlour flavours — and then check what your local stores and delivery apps actually stock.

Ice Cream vs Frozen Dessert: What Is the Difference?

Indian shoppers often use "ice cream" as a general word for every frozen treat, but on the pack label the distinction matters. Under India's food safety rules (FSSAI), a product labelled ice cream gets its fat from milk fat. A frozen dessert (also labelled "frozen confection") may be made with milk fat, edible vegetable oils and fats, or a combination, and it must be labelled as a frozen dessert rather than ice cream.

Neither word automatically means better or worse eating — texture, flavour and price all play a part — but the label tells you what you are buying. Several brands in this guide sell both types across their ranges: a flagship tub may be ice cream while an economy cone from the same brand is a frozen dessert. The habit worth building is simple: turn the pack around and read which of the two names appears on it, along with the ingredients list, before you buy.

Quick Answer: The 12 Brands at a Glance

• Amul — the cooperative giant from Anand, Gujarat; everyday tubs, cones, cups and kulfi found across India.
• Mother Dairy — the NDDB-owned Delhi brand; a North India household staple with a big kulfi and classics range.
• Kwality Wall's — home of Cornetto and Magnum; now a standalone listed company, Kwality Wall's (India) Limited.
• Vadilal — Ahmedabad's 1907 original, famous for cassata and its family packs.
• Havmor — founded in Karachi in 1944, rebuilt in Ahmedabad; now part of Lotte, with tubs, candies, cones and ice cream cakes.
• Naturals Ice Cream — Mumbai's fruit-first parlour brand, built on flavours such as Tender Coconut and Sitaphal.
• Baskin Robbins — the global scoop-shop chain, in India since 1993 through the Graviss Group.
• Arun Icecreams — Chennai's Hatsun Agro brand, loved in the South for its bars, kulfis and cones.
• Dinshaw's — Nagpur's heritage brand, making ice creams and dairy treats since 1932.
• NIC Honestly Crafted — Pune-based Walko Food's premium label, known for fruit, dry-fruit and Indian-sweet flavours.
• HOCCO — the Chona family's new-age Ahmedabad brand, launched in 2023 by the founders of Havmor.
• Dairy Day — Bengaluru's Dairy Classic Ice Creams brand, strong across the South and West.

How to Choose an Ice Cream Brand

Start with the label. Decide whether you want milk-fat ice cream or are happy with a frozen dessert, then check the pack front for the correct name and scan the ingredients. If a flavour name appeals — kesar pista, tender coconut, Belgian chocolate — the ingredients list tells you how it is flavoured.

Match the brand to the flavour style. Fruit purists gravitate to Naturals or NIC; kulfi lovers are well served by Mother Dairy, Arun and Amul; cone-and-stick fans are the natural audience for Kwality Wall's and Havmor; and anyone who enjoys choosing scoops in a parlour will feel at home at Baskin Robbins.

Pick the format for the occasion. Tubs and family packs suit home desserts and second helpings; cones and bars are portion-controlled and travel better; ice cream cakes (offered by brands such as Havmor and Dairy Day) solve birthdays; and small cups are the practical choice for parties and for trying a new flavour without committing to a litre.

Think about storage before pack size. A large tub is only good value if your freezer can hold it at a steady freezing temperature and your household will finish it while it is still at its best. Buy the biggest pack you can store flat, sealed and cold — not the biggest pack on offer.

Check regional availability honestly. Dinshaw's is a Central India institution, Dairy Day is strongest in the South and West, and HOCCO is still expanding from its Gujarat base. National brands such as Amul, Kwality Wall's and Mother Dairy are the safer bet when you are shopping away from home.

The Brands in Detail

1. Amul

Amul is the brand of the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF), the Anand-based federation of dairy cooperatives whose roots go back to the 1946 cooperative movement. That structure explains Amul's reach: few frozen brands in India are stocked as widely, from metro supermarkets to small-town freezers.

The range covers almost every format — take-home tubs in flavours such as Chocochips, Kesar Pista and Fruit N Nut, the Tricone cone range, cups, cassata, sundaes and kulfi. Amul positions its ice cream on real milk ("Real Milk. Real Ice Cream." is the line printed on its tubs), and its breadth makes it the default family purchase in much of the country. If you want one brand that is easy to find almost anywhere in India, Amul is the practical first choice.

• Brand owner: GCMMF (dairy cooperative federation)
• Base: Anand, Gujarat
• Known for: wide everyday range — tubs, Tricone cones, cups, cassata and kulfi
• Best for: family take-home packs and all-India availability

Check Amul ice cream on Amazon

2. Mother Dairy

Mother Dairy was commissioned in 1974 as a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), created under the Operation Flood programme, and it remains one of India's best-known dairy names. Its headquarters are in Noida, and its ice cream is a fixture of Delhi and North India freezers.

The brand organises its range around occasions and Indian tastes: a dedicated kulfi range, Fruit Classics, Indian Classics and Western Classics sit alongside cones, cups and family tubs, and the company continues to launch seasonal lines. Mother Dairy suits shoppers who want a cooperative-owned, milk-first brand with particularly strong kulfi and traditional flavours, and it is one of the easiest brands to find across the North.

• Brand owner: Mother Dairy Fruit & Vegetable Pvt. Ltd. (NDDB subsidiary)
• Base: Noida, Uttar Pradesh
• Known for: kulfi range, Indian and Western Classics, family tubs
• Best for: North India households and kulfi lovers

Check Mother Dairy ice cream on Amazon

3. Kwality Wall's

Kwality Wall's is the name behind India's most recognisable cones and sticks: Cornetto, Feast and the Creamy Delight range are freezer-cabinet staples, and it also sells Magnum, the premium chocolate-coated stick brand that the company says was introduced in India in 2013 in flavours such as Almond, Chocolate Truffle and Chocolate Brownie.

The business has recently changed ownership structure: Hindustan Unilever's ice cream business was demerged into a separate company, Kwality Wall's (India) Limited, which has since listed on the Indian stock exchanges. For shoppers nothing about the products changes — this remains the brand to reach for if your household runs on cones, chocobars and premium sticks rather than scoops from a tub.

• Brand owner: Kwality Wall's (India) Limited (formerly HUL's ice cream business)
• Known for: Cornetto cones, Magnum premium sticks, Feast bars
• Best for: cones, sticks and on-the-go treats

4. Vadilal

Vadilal is one of India's oldest ice cream names: the business began in 1907, when Vadilal Gandhi started selling ice cream made in a traditional hand-cranked machine, and it is still headquartered in Ahmedabad. Its own brand story records a genuine piece of Indian dessert history — Vadilal introduced cassata, the layered multi-flavour slice, to Indian audiences in 1950.

Today the range spans cups, cones (including its Flingo cones), tubs, sticks and candies, family packs and ice cream cakes, sold widely in western India and exported abroad; the brand also runs parlours and its Happinezz format. Choose Vadilal for classic Indian flavours, a celebratory cassata, or a dependable family pack with a century of habit behind it.

• Founded: 1907
• Base: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
• Known for: cassata, family packs, cups, cones and tubs
• Best for: classic flavours and family celebrations

5. Havmor

Havmor began in 1944 in Karachi, where Satish Chandra Chona sold ice cream under the name "Have More"; after Partition he rebuilt the business in Ahmedabad. It is now part of Lotte India Corporation, the Indian arm of South Korea's LOTTE Wellfood, and the brand says its range runs to more than 150 products.

That range is broad: signature tubs (look for flavours such as Kesar Pista, Rajwadi Kulfi Falooda and its strawberry tubs), ice candies, cones, cups and a well-known line of ice cream cakes, plus its Havfunn parlours. Havmor suits western India shoppers who want variety in one brand — and anyone planning a birthday, where its ice cream cakes do the heavy lifting.

• Founded: 1944 (Karachi; rebuilt in Ahmedabad)
• Parent: Lotte India Corporation (LOTTE Wellfood)
• Base: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
• Known for: tubs, ice candies, cones and ice cream cakes
• Best for: variety seekers and celebration cakes

6. Naturals Ice Cream

Naturals began in 1984 with a single parlour in Juhu, Mumbai, opened by Raghunandan Kamath, who built the brand on a simple idea: ice cream flavoured with real, seasonal fruit. Its own story emphasises a short ingredient philosophy — fruit, milk and sugar — and the flavours that made its name are still the ones regulars order: Tender Coconut, Sitaphal (custard apple), Alphonso Mango, Anjeer (fig) and a plain, rich Malai.

Naturals is primarily a parlour experience, with outlets across many Indian cities and a rotating menu that adds weekly specials to the fruit-led core. If you prefer your ice cream to taste of the fruit on the label rather than of a syrup, this is the brand built for you.

• Founded: 1984, Juhu, Mumbai
• Founder: Raghunandan Srinivas Kamath
• Known for: fruit flavours — Tender Coconut, Sitaphal, Mango, Anjeer, Malai
• Best for: fruit-flavour purists and parlour visits

7. Baskin Robbins

Baskin Robbins is the world's best-known scoop-shop name, founded in 1945 in California by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins and built on the idea of a flavour for every day of the month. It was brought to India in 1993 by the Graviss Group, which runs the brand here through its food business headquartered in Mumbai.

The Indian menu mixes global favourites such as Mississippi Mud and Mint Milk Chocolate with local ones like Alphonso Mango and Honey Nut Crunch, served as scoops, sundaes and take-home tubs; the brand says its Indian flavours are made with cow's milk and are 100% vegetarian. Pick Baskin Robbins when the outing itself — choosing flavours at the counter — is half the pleasure.

• Founded: 1945 (California, USA); in India since 1993
• India partner: Graviss Group
• Known for: 31-flavour parlour concept, scoops, sundaes and tubs
• Best for: parlour scoops and flavour variety

8. Arun Icecreams

Arun Icecreams was founded in 1970 in Chennai by R. G. Chandramogan and is the ice cream brand of Hatsun Agro Product Ltd, the Chennai-based dairy company he built. For many South Indian families, Arun is simply what ice cream is called.

Its catalogue is one of the widest in this guide: iBar and iBar Mini chocolate bars, a full kulfi line (Malai, Rabdi, Rose Gulkand among them), iCones, cups, ice cream shakes, kids' bars, slices and specialities such as cassata and ice cream sandwiches, plus family tubs that include Indian flavours like Gulab Jamun and Gajar Ka Halwa. Choose Arun in the South for kulfi and bars in particular — and for the sheer fun of its novelty range for children.

• Founded: 1970
• Parent: Hatsun Agro Product Ltd
• Base: Chennai, Tamil Nadu
• Known for: iBar bars, kulfi range, iCones, shakes and kids' novelties
• Best for: South India families, kulfi and bars

9. Dinshaw's

Dinshaw's has been making ice creams and dairy treats since 1932 and is still headquartered in Nagpur, which makes it one of the longest-running names in this guide. The company describes itself as a legacy in motion: alongside ice cream it now sells dairy products, bakery items and namkeens, but the freezer cabinet is where its reputation was built.

In Central India — Maharashtra's Vidarbha region and the neighbouring states — Dinshaw's is the nostalgic default, the brand grandparents and grandchildren have genuinely shared. Its parlour-style classics and kulfi suit shoppers who value a regional heritage brand over national advertising, and travellers through Nagpur will find it everywhere.

• Since: 1932
• Company: Dinshaw's Dairy Foods Pvt. Ltd.
• Base: Nagpur, Maharashtra
• Known for: classic ice creams and kulfi in Central India
• Best for: Central India households and heritage flavours

10. NIC Honestly Crafted

NIC — sold under the "Honestly Crafted" banner — is the premium ice cream brand of Walko Food Company, founded in Pune in 2012; NIC's own story dates its first parlour to Pune in 2015. The brand says it works with fresh fruit, dry fruit, chocolate and pure milk, and that it uses no preservatives, artificial flavours or added colours — claims to check on the pack, as with any brand.

Its flavour list is the draw: fruit and dry-fruit tubs sit beside international flavours and a distinctive run of Indian-sweet-inspired ones, including Gulab Jamun, Sheer Khurma, Til Gud and Gajar Halwa. NIC is strong on delivery platforms as well as in parlours, which makes it the convenient premium pick in the cities it serves — order a flavour you cannot find in a supermarket freezer.

• Parent: Walko Food Company Pvt. Ltd. (founded 2012)
• Base: Pune, Maharashtra
• Known for: fruit, dry-fruit and Indian-sweet-inspired premium tubs
• Best for: premium delivery orders and unusual flavours

11. HOCCO

HOCCO is the newest name in this guide, and its back-story is pure Indian ice cream history: it was launched commercially in October 2023 by the Chona family — the founders of Havmor — under the name House of Chonas Collaborative, once their post-Havmor non-compete had run its course. It is based in Ahmedabad.

The range is built for modern retail: big cups in flavours such as Butterscotch, Kaju Draksh and Kesar Pista, alongside cones, tubs and novelty formats sold through stores and quick-commerce. HOCCO suits shoppers in and around Gujarat who enjoy trying a new-age brand with old-school ice cream pedigree behind it; expect its footprint to keep growing from its home base.

• Launched: 2023
• Founders: Chona family (House of Chonas Collaborative)
• Base: Ahmedabad, Gujarat
• Known for: big cups, cones and tubs with contemporary flavours
• Best for: trying a new-generation regional brand

12. Dairy Day

Dairy Day is the brand of Dairy Classic Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd., founded in Bengaluru in 2002 by M. N. Jaganath and A. Balaraju. It has grown from its Karnataka base into a familiar name across southern and western India, with the brand emphasising everyday, family-friendly indulgence under its "Lots of Fun" line.

The catalogue covers cups, candies and sorbets, sticks and cones, tubs and take-home packs, and ice cream cakes — including kulfis such as its Pista Kulfi and fruit-led sticks like Alphonso Mango. Dairy Day suits South and West households looking for a reliable regional all-rounder that covers both daily treats and party formats.

• Founded: 2002
• Company: Dairy Classic Ice Creams Pvt. Ltd.
• Base: Bengaluru, Karnataka
• Known for: cups, cones, kulfis, tubs and ice cream cakes
• Best for: South and West India family purchases

Brand Comparison Table

Storage and Serving Tips

Keep it properly frozen. Ice cream keeps its texture best in a freezer held at about −18°C or colder. If your freezer door shelves run warmer, store tubs at the back of the main compartment, and avoid leaving the pack out during a long shopping trip home — a partly melted and refrozen tub turns icy and grainy.

Temper before scooping. Take a hard-frozen tub out five to ten minutes before serving, or dip the scoop in warm water between servings. Kulfi is deliberately denser than churned ice cream; let it stand a little longer and slice or unmould it rather than trying to scoop it rock-hard.

Protect the surface. Press a piece of cling film or the pack's inner seal directly onto the surface of a part-used tub before resealing; it reduces ice crystals and stops the ice cream absorbing freezer smells. Return the tub to the freezer promptly after serving, and do not refreeze ice cream that has fully melted — both texture and food safety suffer.

Serve smaller, refill happily. Small bowls keep portions sensible and keep the tub out of the freezer for less time. For parties, pre-scoop balls onto a chilled tray and return them to the freezer until the moment of serving.

FAQs

Which is the best ice cream brand in India?

There is no single answer — it depends on taste and region. Amul and Mother Dairy are the most widely available dairy-backed brands, Kwality Wall's leads on cones and sticks, Naturals and NIC are the fruit and premium specialists, and regional favourites such as Arun, Dinshaw's, Vadilal, Havmor and Dairy Day dominate their home markets. This guide is an editorial selection to help you choose, not an official ranking.

What is the difference between ice cream and frozen dessert?

Under FSSAI rules, ice cream is made with milk fat. A frozen dessert may use edible vegetable oils and fats (with or without milk fat) and must be labelled "frozen dessert" or "frozen confection". The same brand may sell both across different products, so check the front of the individual pack.

Which brands are best for kulfi?

Mother Dairy has a dedicated kulfi range, Arun Icecreams is known for flavours such as Malai, Rabdi and Rose Gulkand, Amul sells kulfi nationally, and Dinshaw's and Dairy Day both include kulfi in their catalogues. Kulfi is denser and slower-melting than churned ice cream because it is traditionally made from reduced milk.

Which brand should I choose for fruit flavours?

Naturals built its name on fruit — Tender Coconut, Sitaphal and Alphonso Mango — and NIC's range leans heavily on fresh fruit and dry fruit. Baskin Robbins also keeps Indian fruit favourites such as Alphonso Mango on its parlour menu.

Are these brands vegetarian?

Most Indian ice cream is vegetarian, and many packs carry the green dot; Baskin Robbins states its Indian flavours are 100% vegetarian. Individual products vary (for example, some premium flavours may contain egg-based ingredients), so check the label of the specific product if this matters to you.

Why does this guide not list prices?

Ice cream prices vary by city, pack size, retailer and season, and change too often for a guide to stay accurate. We link to Amazon India for the brands sold there so you can see the current price before buying.

Conclusion

India's ice cream market rewards loyalty and curiosity in equal measure. Keep a dependable national brand in the freezer for everyday desserts, back your regional champion when you are home, and leave room to try the fruit specialists and the new generation — that is most of the pleasure of the category. Whichever brand you choose, read the pack label, keep it frozen hard, and serve it before it has time to miss the freezer.

Research note: Brand backgrounds in this guide were checked against the brands' official websites and reputable company profiles in October 2026. Ranges and flavour names are as the brands themselves describe them; availability varies by city. If you spot an error, please contact VisitBest so we can correct it.