Coke mulls foray into juices, energy drinks

Following a global strategy to promote healthy beverages, Coca-Cola India is considering an entry into various new beverage segments such as juices in addition to sports and energy drinks.

In India, the soft drink major already has a presence in carbonated drinks, tea, coffee, mineral water and fruit-based drinks.

The company, which launched its fruit-based drink Minute Maid in February, said it was going to enter the 100 per cent juice segment but only after a supply-chain system was in place.

According to a company spokesperson, Minute Maid is the first step towards entering the 100 per cent juices segment. The 100 per cent packaged juice segment in India is estimated to be worth Rs 400-500 crore (Rs 4-5 billion), dominated by brands such as Dabur Foods' Real, Activ and Coolers, PepsiCo's Tropicana and Ladakh Foods' Leh Berry.

Coca-Cola executives said the company was studying the possibility of launching energy drink, Burn, and sports drink, Powerade, in India. Burn and Powerade are already available in international markets such as the US.

An energy drink is one, which gives a short burst of energy and contains products such as caffeine and some herbs, whereas a sports drink is one, which contains certain salts which replenish the loss of moisture in the body.

At present, Red Bull and Gatorade are some of the energy and sports drinks available in India. Coca-Cola had earlier tried to enter the energy drinks segment with, Shock, brand.

"This is a drink made from pulp but at the same time it is not 100 per cent juice so we believe it is a whole new category with a big untapped market," Coca-Cola India's regional operations vice-president Milind Sathe said.

While Minute Maid is an orange-flavoured drink and Maaza is the company's mango-flavoured drink. Sathe said the company would launch drinks in other flavours too.

"We have to study the market and see what flavour will appeal to the Indian consumer after that we might launch new flavours under the Minute Maid brand," he said.