The scorching summer has spelled boom time for the soft drink industry which has clocked a healthy growth of over 35 per cent during April-May.
The growth rate has been achieved despite a fall in sales in April owing to the truckers' strike.
While Pepsi has clocked a growth of 25-30 per cent in April and expects to register 30-40 per cent growth in May, Coca-Cola claims to have registered a growth of over 40 per cent during the last two months.
"Although there was a fall in April, May has more than made up," Pepsi Foods executive director (marketing) Shashi K Kalathil said. A top Coca-Cola India official said during May Coke has registered a growth of about 50 per cent.
Kalathil said it is the first time that some states in India will cross the 10-million cases mark in May itself. "It augurs well for the future," he added.
He also said the growth was primarily driven by a concerted market price action across companies and brands. He said the introduction of Mountain Dew and Blue Pepsi also helped in achieving a healthy growth.
"Of the total sales of about 6.5-7 million cases of both Mountain Dew and Blue Pepsi put together, at least half was incremental sales," Kalathil said.
Coca-Cola India official said the growth has been achieved across the country in metros as well as rural areas.
In urban areas, the company witnessed a growth of even 70-80 per cent in some pockets.
Both Delhi and Hyderabad, for example, grew by about 80 per cent during the last two months, he said.
The contribution to volumes by rural areas has increased from 25 per cent to 35 per cent during the last few years. The company has increased its village penetration from 9 per cent in 2000 to 25 per cent this year by adding 40,000 more villages.
The company has added 30 new lines from September last year and has added 9 million cases of new glass to its operations. Compare this with the fact that there was about 20 million cases of glass in the market during the last 10 years.
The total number of Coca-Cola outlets has increased from 600,000 to 750,000 from 2000 and the company is giving out additional 250,000 refrigerators this year.
The company has also brought down its average cost by about 25 per cent during the last five years.
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