Beverage major Coca-Cola on Tuesday said that its India business witnessed “robust growth” in 2023. The company also said that it is increasing investments to ramp up capacity for the India market.
The beverage major said growth in developing and emerging markets was led by India and Brazil for the December quarter and for the full year of 2023.
Speaking at the investor call, the company’s management said, “A significant portion of our expected capital investment increase is to build capacity for Fairlife and for our India business, both of which experienced robust growth in 2023.”
In its earnings release, the company noted that, “Consolidated unit volume grew 2 per cent for the quarter. Developing and emerging markets grew 4 per cent , driven by growth in Brazil and India. For the full year, unit case volume grew 2 per cent. Developing and emerging markets grew 2 per cent, driven by growth in India and Brazil.”
Asia-pacific region
Talking about the performance in Asia-Pacific region, the company said that the unit case volume grew by 2 per cent for the December quarter and this growth was led by India and China.
The company also said that it saw value share gains in the beverage segment in markets including India in 2023
In January, the company’s bottling arm, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages divested its bottling operation in Rajasthan, Bihar, North-East and parts of West Bengal to its existing independent bottlers.
India is the fifth largest market for the beverage major globally .Coca-Cola currently has 11 bottling partners in India including company-owned HCCB.