Magnum Opens New R&D Centre in Bengaluru to Accelerate Ice Cream Product Innovation for India

The Magnum Ice Cream Company (TMICC), the world's largest ice cream business with 21% of global market share, has inaugurated a new 13,000 sq ft Research, Design & Innovation (RD&I) Centre in Bengaluru to strengthen its product innovation capabilities and accelerate the development of ice cream products tailored to Indian consumers.

Located in Whitefield, the facility houses a state-of-the-art laboratory and a digitally enabled pilot plant that bring together ice cream science, culinary expertise, packaging development, and consumer technical insights under one roof. 

The centre will support innovation across brands including Kwality Wall's, Cornetto, Magnum, Carte D'Or, Feast, and Twister, focusing on product development, packaging, regulatory assessment, and consumer-led innovation.

The Bengaluru facility features advanced capabilities such as ice cream manufacturing, sensory testing, packaging assessment, cold-chain validation, climate testing, transport simulations, and 3D packaging prototyping. It is designed to speed up experimentation across multiple product formats, including cups, cones, sticks, kulfi and premium ice cream cakes, while ensuring products are developed for Indian market conditions.

"Kwality Wall's has been part of the Indian ice cream scene for more than seven decades, consistently delighting consumers with new flavours and familiar icons. As part of The Magnum Ice Cream Company, we now have access to world-class R&D capabilities, deeper product expertise and a sharper innovation ecosystem. The new Bengaluru ice cream centre will help us respond faster to evolving consumer preferences, create products that are relevant to Indian tastes and occasions, and continue building a future-ready ice cream business in India," said Chitrank Goel, Deputy Managing Director, Kwality Wall's (India) Limited, in a statement.

The Magnum Ice Cream Company owns a 61.9% stake in the Indian business of Kwality Wall's.

The company said the Bengaluru centre will collaborate closely with TMICC's Global Design Centre in Colworth, UK, and its regional innovation hub in Istanbul, Turkey, combining global R&D expertise with local consumer insights to strengthen its innovation pipeline, improve product quality, and accelerate speed-to-market for India-specific offerings.

"The new Bengaluru RD&I Centre brings together our global science, technology and culinary expertise with deep local consumer insight, helping us to move faster from idea to market-ready innovation. From product and packaging development to sensory assessment and cold-chain validation, this new centre will play an important role in creating products that are more relevant, more distinctive and more exciting for consumers in India," said Zbigniew Lewicki, Chief Research, Development & Innovation Officer, The Magnum Ice Cream Company.

According to the company, the new RD&I Centre is part of its broader strategy to strengthen innovation, premiumisation, and local execution in India as demand for premium ice cream products continues to grow.