India packs fizz for Coke amid weak global markets

MUMBAI: India, alongside China and Brazil, drove volume growth for American beverage giant Coca-Cola in the March quarter even as the company contended with a weakening consumer sentiment in developed markets like the US, which weighed on its share of volume gains in those regions. The firm's consolidated volume grew 2% during the quarter. Asia Pacific recorded a 6% volume growth, led by India, while volumes declined by 3% in North America. Coca-Cola reports unit case volume, which factors in the total number of unit cases of beverages sold by the company and its bottling partners.

"We saw good momentum in Asia Pacific, driven by a good quarter in India in particular. We saw strong volume growth across our portfolio in India and increased household penetration," said James Quincey, Chairman and CEO at The Coca-Cola Company during the firm's earnings call on Tuesday.

The company's net revenues declined by 2% to $11.1 billion due to currency headwinds and the impact of refranchising bottling operations. "In India, trademark Coca-Cola and Thums Up, a cherished regional brand, are fuelling consumers and contributed to double-digit volume growth for the market in the first quarter," the company said. Summers arrived early in parts of India this year, helping beverage players. Coca-Cola is betting on its all-weather strategy to power growth amid macro-uncertainty posed by tariffs. "We are not immune to global trade dynamics. The imperative is to make global brands locally relevant," executives said. The company competes with global rival PepsiCo and regional players like Campa Cola in India.

Coca-Cola's winning strategy for India is to tap into its portfolio of local brands for the market like Thums Up, Maaza and Limca which the company had earlier indicated, gives it enough leverage to fight rivals. "Our portfolio in India is strong if not stronger than just about anywhere in the world because we have the benefit of local brands in our portfolio...the good thing is we have been in business for a long, long time and over that period have built our playbooks as to how to compete, how to win and we are more excited about the prospects for our business in India right now than we have ever been," CFO John Murphy had said during his trip to India earlier this year.