Seoul, Jan 18 (IANS): Lotte Confectionery said on Wednesday it will invest 70 billion won (about $56.6 million) in its ice cream making affiliate in India, Havmor Ice Cream Ltd., over the next five years as the confectionery maker tries to strengthen its rapidly growing India business.

Lotte Confectionery will build a new 60,000 square-metre ice cream factory in Pune, Maharashtra.

The envisioned factory will be the first for Havmor Ice Cream in India, after the South Korean confectionery maker acquired the company in 2017 for 167.2 billion won, reports Yonhap news agency.

Havmor Ice Cream operates 216 stores in India and distributes two ice cream brands made by Lotte Confectionery -- Snow Ice and World Cone.

Lotte Confectionery said it needed to increase production capacity of its affiliate in India, amid a rapidly growing demand for its ice cream products there.

The new ice cream factory is expected to generate some 1,000 jobs, the confectionery arm of Lotte Group said.

The Pune factory will also become the third manufacturing plant for Lotte Confectionery in India.

Last year, Lotte Confectionery merged with Lotte Foods, a food and dairy products maker of Lotte Group, to improve profitability and streamline overlapping business areas.

The company had posted over 3 trillion won in sales and an operating profit of 1.2 trillion won as of September 2022.