US cola major Coca-Cola, looking to scale up its India play, has said that it will be investing Rs 500 crore to Rs 600 crore to grow the market every year. This is besides the already-announced Rs 11,000 crore investment for creating an agri eco-system over a period of the next five years. The crux of the India growth story will be weaved around the fruit circular economy — the main ingredient would be creating demand for fruits such as mango and orange, which will immensely benefit the farming community, said T Krishnakumar, president, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia. Speaking to select mediapersons Chennai, he said the company had in the last eight to nine months internally chalked out new strategies for the Indian market, in the wake of understanding that the company has to cater to the requirement of each state specifically to strike a chord with the changing tastes of the consumers.
Accordingly, the cola major has decided to focus more on fruit-based beverages, which will be outside of its core carbonated beverages, with specific relevance being given to local flavours for each state. As part of diversifying the product portfolio in the country, it would look to launch variants in the fruit beverages category.
It is set to address more mass market and planning to launch fruit beverages under its brand Minute Maid. In the core segment, the company has brands like Coke, Sprite and Fanta from its global portfolio and Thums Up, which it acquired in the domestic market. Krishnakumar said the company was planning to launch a lot of variants in terms of fruit beverages as part of an initiative to get products more relevant to India.