Comments
Beverage major Coca-Cola on Tuesday said it saw strong growth in India in the fourth quarter and full year of 2022 ended December 31.
On an earnings call, James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of The Coca-Cola Company said India “had a cracking year” in 2022 and is off to a strong start this year. “ I think the overall backdrop to this is that the Indian economy and the Indian consumer base is approaching, in highest level terms, a level of GDP per head at which historically the beverage industry has tended to accelerate its development. So, we are encouraged by the potential to develop a fantastic beverage industry in India over many decades,” he added.
“India typifies the long-term potential of the beverage industry to keep growing and I think its a market that is set to take off,” he added. He also pointed out that growth was visible across all dimensions in terms of brands, distribution and number of packages, including affordable packs.
Quincey said the “Thums Up Stump Cam” campaign during the ICC T20 World Cup helped brand Thums Up garner its highest monthly market share jump during the activation period and contributed to strong volume growth.
India is the fifth-largest market for the company globally.
In terms of consolidated unit case volumes, the beverage major in its earnings statement for the fourth quarter, said strong growth in Brazil, India, Great Britain and Mexico was more than offset by the suspension of business in Russia. It added that in terms of its full-year performance, it benefited from strong growth in India and Brazil.
It added that in the Asia-Pacific region, unit case volume growth was driven by India and Vietnam. In 2022, the company gained value share in total NARTD (non-alcoholic ready-to-drink) beverages in the region, which was “led by share gains in India, Australia, Japan and South Korea.”
On the performance of its bottling investments group (company-owned bottling operations) it added that “unit case volume grew 1 per cent for the quarter, driven by strength in India and Vietnam.
In India, the company has partnered with the grocery delivery service Zepto for a “return and recycle” initiative for PET bottles. “This initiative establishes an organised process of PET bottle collection with full traceability to help ensure effective plastic waste management,” the statement added.
Comments
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.