The Hindu Business Line : Coke mulling nimbu pani, tea foray

COCA-COLA India (CCI) is considering launching various categories of commercial beverages in the domestic market, which could include flavoured milk, nimbu pani, tea, fruit juice under the brand name Minute Maid, and Vanilla Coke, Mr Alex Von Behr, President & Chief Executive Officer, CCI, told newspersons here on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Marketing Summit.

However, Mr von Behr made it clear that carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) would continue to be CCI's mainstay in the domestic market. "Soft drinks account for 90 per cent of CCI's sales. Even, say, five years later, we expect that CSDs will continue to contribute up to 75 per cent of our revenues," Mr von Behr said.

While denying a recent media report that CCI would introduce flavoured milk under the Walt Disney brand name within the next six months, Mr von Behr said that no specific time frame had been set for introducing the new beverages. "We will introduce these products at the appropriate time," he said.

On packaged water, Mr von Behr said that CCI was working towards pumping in additional investments and expanding bottling capacity to meet increasing demand. He said that Kinley, CCI's packaged water brand, was likely to overtake market leader Bisleri in the next few months. According to the AC Nielsen retail audit, Kinley's current market share is 33 per cent, while that of Bisleri is 36 per cent. Mr von Behr added that the company had broken even on its investments in the water business.

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