new delhi imagine dahi becoming a battleground for food companies such as multinational nestle and homegrown mother dairy the fight is over firstof itskind curd with probiotic strains that contains friendly bacteria to build immunity and keep the body healthy globally the market for probiotic food is around 14 billion while in india its still at a nascent stage but growing at a healthy pace of 1520 with others also planning to get a piece of the actionthe probiotic food market has started hotting up where the race is not only for getting the largest chunk of the market but also who reaches the shelf first alongwith a highdecibel advertising campaign there are claims and counterclaims by nestle and mother dairy on who has pioneered the product and who has taken the leadership by introducing it first both the companies were planning to enter the probiotic market its too much of a coincidence that the announcements came on the same day said an industry observer mother dairy and nestle should probably confine their argument to probiotic dahi since amul was the first to hit the shelves with probiotic icecream now it intends to expand its portfolio and has already started test marketing products like lassi a company source saidnot to be left behind yakult danone a 5050 joint venture between yakult honsha of japan and group danone of france which claims that it is a pioneer to launch fermented milk yakult in 1935 in japan will be entering india with its probiotic drink by the yearend but what exactly are probiotics who says probiotics are living microorganisms which when administered in adequate amounts confer a health benefit on the hostwith dahi being an important item on the dining table in most middleclass indian homes companies are hoping to increase probiotic usage in coming years mother dairy nestle and amul are already slugging it out in the plain yoghurtcurd market estimated to be worth rs 360 crore and growing 15 says mayank trivedi gm dairy division nestle advertising will be key in driving the category provided it is good and involves the consumer in understanding the benefits of probiotics we will extend this concept further the two companies have lined up multicrore advertising campaigns with nestle believed to be spending around rs 5 crore for just the initial launch and mother diary responding aggressively with a rs 4 crore budget paul thachil ceo mother dairy india believes that in the coming years probiotic curd to take over nearly a quarter of the marketbut there is already a perception that it could merely be an ad gimmick we have been consuming probiotic food in the form of raita and dahi for years says an executive with a food company or is it just sour grapes rupalimukherjeetimesgroupcom