Beverage maker Coca-Cola is betting big on the Indian market, which is now its fifth largest by volume. After having sold one billion cases in 2019, the company is looking to double the number in the next five years.
The company sees India as a promising opportunity to become one of the top three markets soon.
The company is now planning to diversify its portfolio while also rolling out new variants across its Thums Up, Limca, Fanta, Sprite and Maaza, including no-sugar extension.
In 2017, Coca-Cola committed $1.7 billion (Rs 11,000 crore) towards the Indian agri-ecosystem for the next five years under its Fruit Circular Economy initiative to source produce locally to be included in its beverages. This comes after the company’s investment of $5 billion in the country in 2013.
Speaking to BloombergQuint, James Quincey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Coca-Cola Company said that the company will now focus on implementing its investment plan in the country and in the meanwhile will not infuse any fresh funds into the Indian market.
T Krishnakumar, president-India and Southwest Asia of Coca-Cola said during the media briefing on Monday that the company is working on reducing sugar content in its beverages in 3-4 years. He also said that all new launches by the company will have a maximum of six grams of sugar.
Coca Cola is also looking at diversifying its portfolio by entering new beverage categories like enhanced hydration, nutritious dilutables and beverage-plus at affordable price point.
Speaking of the impact of the coronavirus, James said that he didn’t expect it to affect the company’s supply chain in the short-term but hinted that things could change if the situation worsened. He pointed to a degree of resilience in the supply chain because of the localised nature of the business and added that contingencies have been built in for key ingredients for their products.