Coca-Cola: More Billion-Dollar Brands Expected from India

Mumbai, May 29 (PTI) Global beverages major The Coca-Cola company expects more brands to join the billion-dollar club from markets including India, said its EVP and Chief Operating Officer, Henrique Braun, on Thursday.

The Coca-Cola Company has 3 billion-dollar brands from the India market - ThumsUp, Maaza and Sprite, which shows the “vibrance” of the business here, he said.

“We have today 30 billion-dollar brands (globally) of which 15 were built organically and 15 we acquired and built into billion-dollar brands over the years,” Braun said.

He expects that more brands from India will also join the billion-dollar club in future and the company will take the lesson learned here to its other global markets.

According to industry insiders, Coke is also expected to join the billion-dollar brand club in the Indian market soon.“I have no doubt that we will have another one coming in the future because we believe in the vibrance of the country and the industry.”

About the India market, Braun said it is still a developing country for the beverages industry, hence an opportunity to grow here.

When asked whether he expects India to climb in its global rankings, Braun said it all depends on several factors, which include growth from other markets in the challenging geo-political situation.

“India is very important. It's our fifth growth market in terms of volume. And we are building, we believe that we're building the right foundations to have sustainable growth for the future.

The company, which has seven out of top ten brands in the India beverage market, will continue to develop more brands here.

About the current demand situation in India, Braun said:” We continue to see resilience in the demand. It's never a straight line, but if you compare year on year, in a bigger time frame, it continues to be resilient. There might be variations, but it's a market with growing demand.”

When asked about introduction of more global brands to Coca-Cola's India portfolio, he said it depends on the sequencing of the right stage of the development of the market.

India is one of the markets where carbonated beverages are taxed the highest. It attracts GST of 28 per cent along with a cess of 12 per cent.

When asked whether the government should reduce the tax burdens for the growth of the category, Braun said: “We have learned in 139 years that we have to deal with the local framework. We focus more on what we can control.