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Coke India in 2 deals to boost water sales

Coca-Cola Co's Indian subsidiary said on Friday it has taken over the distribution networks of two local companies' bottled water brands in a bid to increase the market share of its own Kinley label.

A spokesman for the Indian unit of the world's largest soft drinks maker identified the two distributors as Thermax Culligan Water Technologies and Nuchem Weir.

Thermax supplies water in the western cities of Bombay and Pune, where the firm is based.

Nuchem's brand is sold around the northern Indian city of Delhi, where that company is based.

Thermax and Nuchem will now use their plants to bottle 20-litre packs of Kinley, which Coke will supply to their existing customers, the Coke source said. He would not divulge further details of the arrangement.

Coke reckons it has about a 12 per cent share of the bottled water market, now estimated to be worth Rs 6 billion to Rs 10 billion in annual sales and growing at 25 per cent a year.

Thermax's brand accounts for 20 per cent of bulk sales, which comprise half the water market, the Coke spokesman said. Bulk sales refers to large containers of water supplied to offices and large institutions.

Many multinationals like PepsiCo Inc, Nestle SA and Groupe Danone have entered the high-growth Indian water market in the face of slowing sales of their main products.

Coke's Kinley faces competition from Pepsi's Aquafina, Nestle's Pure Life and Bisleri, the biggest Indian brand which is owned by India's Parle Bisleri Ltd. French food giant Danone is negotiating to buy a stake in Parle Bisleri.

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