Coca-Cola India, the Indian subsidiary of the world?s largest carbonated soft drink maker, is creating a new segment in its branded beverages portfolio by launching milk-based juice beverages as more Indians switch to health conscious beverages. The company, which tops the global market share in aerated drinks beating its rival PepsiCo, is testing its new milk based juice ?Maaza Milky Delite? in Kolkata. A success will lead to national launch. The company, a leader in both branded aerated softdrinks and juice drinks, is now focussing more on its distribution, innovation, marketing, technology and infrastructure, says Atul Singh, president, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia in an interview with FE?s Lalitha Srinivasan.
Market penetration of packaged beverages in India is still very low. How do you plan to grow?
There is huge opportunity in the packaged beverage segment in India. This is a country which has one of the lowest per capita consumption levels for packaged beverages. We see steady and robust growth in sparklings, water and juice drinks. The company needs to focus on distribution, infrastructure, innovation, marketing investments, investments in technology to ensure chilled availability of products. We are further strengthening our OBPPC (occasion, brand, price, pack, channel) architecture and shopper marketing programme, investing in brand activation during the festive season. Our focus continues to be on being able to build a robust and sustainable growth business in India.
There?s a clear shift in consumer preferences from colas to juice-based drinks in India. How do you view it?
We want to be a total beverage company and keeping this in mind, have launched several products in the recent past. Juices and juice drinks play a key role in the health and wellness of the consumers and the market for them is growing fast. The packaged beverage, including the ready-to-drink juice segment, represents a big opportunity in India. As a go-forward, we have now constituted a dedicated function for the India and South West Asia business unit under the leadership of Andriy Avramenko, who leads a fully integrated cross functional team, representing the functions touching the juice business from ?grove to glass?. This team will focus on advancing our juice containing beverages business. We have had 20 consecutive quarters of growth in India. And we have registered double digit growth in 14 quarters. Coca-Cola India continues to explore a wide variety of beverage opportunities like juice and juice-based drinks, energy drinks, sports drinks and flavoured water.
Will this new segment increase the commitment from parent?
Cola-Cola has already invested more than $1.3 billion in the country and along with our bottling partners, we will continue to make additional investments proportionate to the potential of the market growth. India is a focus market for the parent company and we have always believed in the India growth story.
Coca-Cola India has invested in sports properties such as the IPL and World Cup tournaments this year. What has been the impact of these investments on your sales performance?
We invest in sports properties because we believe in a healthy, active lifestyle. We also invest in passions such as movies and music. We launched Coke Studio for music activation. We will continue to look at different properties to promote our brands. As for the impact of this strategy, I think when we look at 20 quarters of consecutive growth in India, something has been established a connection with consumers here. What helps us connect with consumers is their passions. In India, three major passions are cricket, music and movies.
What are the major benefits of early implementation of the GST? Do you think the implementation of GST will lead to price reduction in the FMCG space?
I think it?s going to standardise a lot of things. Different states have different tax regimes. The implementation of GST will create more transparency and the ability to focus better. It will put all the states on a uniform playing field because there will not be tax differences within states. In essence, it should build transparency and create even playing field for all industries.