Coke invests $100mn in India

Coca-Cola India said on Wednesday that the company's Atlanta-based parent has invested $100 million this year to hike bottling capacity, increase the number of distribution outlets and improve efficiencies.

While the capacity for PET bottles has been increased by 100 per cent, that for manufacturing returnable glass bottles has been hiked by 25 per cent over the last few months, a senior Coke India official said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"The $100 million has already come in and we have used it to hike capacities, improve distribution and logistics as well as to streamline costs," vice-president Coca-Cola India Sunil Gupta told PTI.

He said besides hiking production capacity in both the northern and southern bottling plants of Coca-Cola India, the company has also decided to increase the number of retailers to a million from 80,000 at present.

"All these initiatives will help Coke achieve better market penetration besides leading to cost improvement," he added.

On the cost front, Gupta said the 200-ml Chhota Coke initiative has worked rather well for the company, raking in volumes as well as efficiencies.

Asked about reports that the company has posted a net profit for the first time in India, he declined to comment.

Gupta said the launch of Chhota Coke has actually helped Coke India to reach 80 per cent of the carbonated soft drinks customers.

"Our 200-ml strategy has paid off. The affordability and availability it offers has shown good results," he said.

Besides being more affordable, the 200 ml pack is also more cost-effective, since the new ultra-light glass bottles used for this pack size are about 23 per cent lighter. This means a saving on many fronts including transportation and capital costs, he added.

"In fact, we might gradually shift the 300 ml pack size also to the ultra-light bottles".