Coca-Cola to bet on rural demand for chilled drinks

Coca-Cola Co. is investing significantly in India along with its bottling partners, a top company executive said, as rural electrification and falling poverty open up new markets for its beverages in the country’s vast hinterland.

- Suneera Tandon

India is at an inflection point with its rapidly developing infrastructure, John Murphy, president and chief financial officer at Coca-Cola, said at a bottling facility operated by a local partner on the outskirts of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh.

“The infrastructure development that’s taking place in a systemic way across India is a key driver. A specific point in the case of India is electrification, and how that has transformed the landscape not only in large cities and towns, but (also) in the rural parts of India; it’s extraordinary progress that’s under way," Murphy said.

Rural electrification helps Coca-Cola sell cold beverages by installing chillers in stores. Murphy said digitization is another plank where India is leading some developed markets.

India is the fifth largest market for Coca-Cola globally, a market it re-entered in the 1990s, and where it sells brands such as Thums-Up, Sprite, Fanta and Limca, apart from Coca-Cola or Coke.

Murphy said there is “plenty of reason" to believe that India will continue to move up the global rankings.