India’s paneer market was valued at around ₹73,140 crore in 2025, according to IMARC, but only an estimated 5–7% is organised and branded, leaving significant room for companies such as Milky Mist to gain share as consumers increasingly prioritise quality, hygiene and consistency.
Regulatory action against analogue paneer could accelerate this formalisation: Maharashtra’s FDA tested 308 paneer and dairy-analogue samples between April 2025 and March 2026, with 109 (35.4%) non-compliant, including 79 sub-standard and 30 unsafe samples; Maharashtra subsequently imposed a one-year ban on analogue, non-dairy and synthetic paneer, while Karnataka also prohibited their manufacture, storage, distribution and sale for one year.
Milky Mist is already benefiting from rising demand, reporting 34% YoY growth in paneer revenue in Q1 FY27. Overall Q1 FY27 revenue rose 43.6% to ₹973.45 crore, EBITDA increased 74.5%, EBITDA margin expanded to 14.9% from 12.2%, and PAT jumped to ₹64.68 crore from ₹6.53 crore a year earlier. The company held approximately 19% of India’s packaged paneer market by value in FY26, alongside 12% of South India’s organised cheese market and 13% of India’s organised yogurt market.
Paneer contributed 29.42% of Milky Mist’s FY26 revenue, while cheese contributed 16.37% and curd 13.26%; meanwhile, ice cream and yogurt are gaining share. The company is also developing a Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC) facility to convert whey from cheese production into higher-value ingredients for sports nutrition and food processing, potentially creating a new profit pool from its existing milk and cheese ecosystem.
Milky Mist generated ₹3,138 crore revenue in FY26, while management indicated that its Perundurai facility could support around 3–3.5 times FY26 revenue at prevailing realisations before significant additional investment is required. Its cheddar cheese capacity has also expanded sharply from 15.6 tonnes/day to 120 tonnes/day, strengthening its value-added dairy portfolio and milk utilisation.
Source: Dairynews7x7 11 Sep, 2026 Read full story here
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