Coca-Cola on Tuesday said that global unit case volume for Q1 CY 2026 grew 3 per cent, led by China, the US and India. The company said it focused on driving affordability and expanding product penetration in rural regions of India in the quarter under review.
India focus drives growth strategy
On the earnings call, Henrique Braun, CEO of The Coca-Cola Company, said, “In India, we drove affordability and linked our brands to consumers’ passion points, for instance, by connecting Thums Up with the T20 Cricket World Cup. We also expanded Sprite into more rural regions with content tailored to local languages.”
Long-term growth potential in India market
Talking about the APAC region business, Braun said that many countries in the region are still in the development stage. He noted the company believes it’s important to focus on building the India business for the long term. “It is a market where we’re fortunate to also have local brands …..that we acquired a long time ago, composing a full portfolio that gives us the opportunity to be connected with the consumers in a very unique way. But we’re still far away from getting our overall architecture on RGM (revenue growth management) and our development capabilities before we can call it a mature market,” he stated on the earnings call.
Revenue growth management and sustainability push
The beverage major said in collaboration with its bottling partners, it focused on harnessing all levers of revenue growth management to drive topline growth. “In South Africa and India, the company continued to expand its use of ultra-lightweight bottles, which supported volume growth in both markets,” it noted.