A strong recovery in Indian sales market led to cola giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo’s healthy growth for 2021 globally. These American fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies – selling aerated drinks and packaged snacks – managed to grow their sales beyond the pre-COVID levels of 2019, thanks to Indian consumers.
During the fiscal ended 25 December 2021, New York, US-headquartered PepsiCo, reported a whopping 38 percent growth in the volume of its convenience foods business. The company management said during a post-earnings call at New York that “double-digit growth in India and Pakistan and high-single-digit growth in the Middle East” were key factors behind its superior performance.
PepsiCo which markets some of the fast-selling brands of fizzy drinks like Pepsi Cola, Mountain Dew and Mirinda, further said that its beverages business posted healthy volume growth. “Beverage unit volume grew 20 percent, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India and Pakistan. Additionally, the Middle East experienced double-digit growth and Nigeria experienced high-single-digit growth”, it added.
Coca-Cola – the largest aerated drinks player globally and in India – benefitted from a better recovery in sales in the country too. In 2021, its unit case volume grew 8 percent – overtaking the pre-Covid levels in 2019 as India emerged one of the key growth drivers. During the December quarter, its volumes grew by 11 percent in the Asia Pacific region, driven by superior growth in markets like India and China. Incidentally, India is the fifth-largest market by revenue contribution for the Atlanta-based cola giant.
“For both the (December) quarter and the year, growth in developing and emerging markets was led by China, India and Russia, while growth in developed markets was led by the United States, Mexico and the United Kingdom”, the company said in a post-earnings call.
According to James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola Company, Coke’s sales grew by nearly 30 percent during the December quarter. “In India, initiates like omnichannel presence and marketing campaigns in key occasions by leveraging festivals through occasion-led marketing formed sequential increase in market share and nearly 30 percent growth in transactions for the quarter”, Quincey said.
