Bottling arm of Coca- Cola India eyes $2.5-bn sales

Hindustan Coca- Cola Beverages (HCCB), the bottling unit of Coca- Cola India, on Monday said it was aiming a turnover of $2.5 billion (~16,250 crore) by 2020.

The company, which currently has a top line of around ~8,500 crore, has 19 bottling plants servicing two million retail outlets across 25 states in India.

The company said it was strengthening its sales and supply- chain functions, manufacturing a wider range of beverages from premium to value, and merging the existing alternate beverages division into mainstream distribution to achieve its new turnover target.

HCCB, led by its first woman CEO, Christina Ruggiero, also said it was setting up a premium beverages division to service requirements around niche drinks. It would add one million new outlets to its total retail reach by 2020, the company added.

“It was very clear from our research, conversations and market data that we are not structured in a way that allows us to fully leverage our scale and market capabilities,” Ruggiero said. “Changes of this nature take time to seep in but our associates are committed to ensuring that HCCB is a key fixture in India’s consumer landscape,” she said.

HCCB had relocated its corporate headquarters to Bengaluru from Gurgaon in June to better focus on its business, 40 per cent of which is located in the south.