Beverage major Coca-Cola on Tuesday said that Sprite has now become a billion dollar brand in India in terms of sales. This will be the second brand in the company’s India portfolio after Thums Up to achieve this milestone.
In August, the beverage giant had stated that Sprite was the biggest contributor to the overall volume-led growth for Coca-Cola India in the first half of the year. The lime and lemon-based soft drink brand also has the highest household penetration in the company’s India portfolio.
On an earnings call on Tuesday, James Quincey, Chairman and CEO of the Coca-Cola Company, said, “Sprite has grown to become a billion dollar brand in the market (India), driven by the success of locally adapted, occasion-based global marketing campaigns.”
Powering forward
He noted that the India business is ‘really powering forward” and the company will continue to “invest strongly” in the country. “In India, we continued to strengthen the first half of the year as we gained share in sparkling soft drinks. Trademark Coke delivered strong growth through effective execution and occasion-based marketing. Year-to-date, we drove approximately 2.5 billion transactions at affordable price points through the expansion of returnable glass bottles and single-serve PET packages,” Quincey added.
In the earnings statement for the third quarter ended September 30, the company said in the Asia-Pacific region, unit case volume grew 9 per cent, driven by strong growth in India and China.
Led by India
In terms of the overall consolidated unit case volume, growth in developing and emerging markets was led by India, China and Brazil, it noted. “Sparkling soft drinks grew 3 per cent, driven by growth across all geographic operating segments, primarily led by India, Mexico and China. Nutrition, juice, dairy and plant-based beverages were even, as growth led by Minute Maid Pulpy in China, Maaza in India and Fairlife in the United States was offset by declines primarily in local brands in Eastern Europe,” the earnings statement added.
Talking about the performance of its company-owned bottling operations, it added that unit case volume grew by 16 per cent driven by “strength in India and Vietnam.”
Coca-Cola had earlier this year announced that home-grown Thums Up became a billion-dollar brand in India in 2021.
