NEW DELHI: American beverage maker Coca Cola is betting big on India as a key growth engine for innovations in new products for the Asia-pacific region --- one of the major growth drivers for the company. Having achieved one billion-unit container sales in 2019, the world’s largest beverage company said it now plans to double sales volume in the country in the next five years with an intent to make India its third-largest market globally. The firm, however, has set no time-frame to achieve the global mark.
“Coca-Cola India became the fifth largest market as it reached the milestone of selling one billion-unit case in 2019 and going further we are bullish on the country as it presents a promising opportunity," James Quincey, chairman and chief executive officer, said. The company took 21 years to achieve this milestone, he added.
Recounting the Indian market as “super attractive”, the 55-year-old Quincey, who took over as CEO three years ago, noted that the company would launch products at lower price points within its existing portfolio as well as outside. Besides, the company is also working on reducing the sugar content in its beverage in three to four years. So far, it has already reduced it in Maaza and Thums Up to below six grams to reach out to the health-conscious consumers.
Coca-Cola has made strong value share gains with contribution from both sparkling and non-sparkling offering. The company will look to diversify its portfolio by entering new categories like enchanted hydration, nutritious dilutable and beverage-plus. This strategy is also seen as an effort to fend-off competition from arch-rival Pepsi. It also plans to market Coca-Cola India’s homegrown brand Maaza, globally.
“In the last 8-10 months, we are, in a systematic manner, reducing the sugar content across brands such as Thums Up and Maaza. We want to bring down the sugar levels to below six grams in the next two years and we have already begun working on this," said T Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India and South-West Asia.
Typically, a 330 ml can of Cola contains 35 grams or roughly seven teaspoons of sugar. Krishnakumar also pointed out that the new products are being formulated with low sugar levels as permitted by WHO (World Health Organisation) across sparkling and still beverages and low-calorie versions of existing brands is also increasing.
Quincey, meanwhile, noted that the slowdown in India had not impacted sales volume. “One quarter up or a bit less is not going to distract us from our long-term investment plan and so we aren’t overly concerned about it,” he said. The company, however, won’t be making any further investments in India till 2022. Earlier in 2013, it had said it would invest $ 5 billion and followed that up with another $1.7 billion four years later. “We’re focused on getting our investment plan that was running through 2022 completed rather than making fresh investment in India,” he said.