India’s Richest Man Adds Fizz To Country’s Cola Market With Relaunch Of Iconic Brand

Forbes

India’s cola wars are bubbling over with the revival of homegrown brand Campa Cola by Reliance Consumer Products, a unit of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. Ambani, India's richest person, remains at the top of the 2025 India Rich List, despite the U.S. tariff shock and a weaker rupee, which have extracted a toll on the nation's richest, shrinking their wealth as a group by $100 billion.  Read the full story on Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/yessarrosendar/2025/10/08/indias-richest-man-adds-fizz-to-countrys-cola-market-with-relaunch-of-iconic-brand/  Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1  Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:  https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript  Stay Connected Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes More From Forbes:  http://forbes.com  Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.

Transcript

00:00Today on Forbes, India's richest man adds fizz to country's cola market with relaunch of iconic brand.

00:09India's cola wars are bubbling over with the revival of homegrown brand Campa Cola by Reliance Consumer Products,

00:17a unit of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries.

00:20Since acquiring the brand three years ago, Reliance Consumer, overseen by his daughter Isha,

00:26has followed its playbook of aggressive pricing to shake up the country's soft drinks market,

00:32which has long been dominated by the Coca-Cola company and PepsiCo.

00:37Campa sells 200ml bottles for 10 rupees, or the equivalent of 12 cents,

00:42about half the retail price of 250ml bottles from the American giants.

00:48At the annual shareholders' meeting in August, Ambani disclosed,

00:52Campa Cola now holds double-digit market share across many states, breaking a 30-year multinational duopoly.

01:01The frothy competition poses a challenge to India's cola king, Ravi Jaipuriya,

01:06whose Varun Beverages is PepsiCo's second-largest bottler outside the U.S.

01:11In an earnings conference call in July, he acknowledged,

01:14Of course, competition is there. However, they will get their share, and we will get ours.

01:21While nearly three-fourths of the company's 126 billion rupees in revenue,

01:26or about 1.4 billion U.S. dollars, comes from India, where it has 36 bottling plants,

01:32Varun Beverages is looking overseas for growth.

01:35In 2024, it inked deals to acquire PepsiCo's businesses in Tanzania and Ghana,

01:41to add to its 13-country strong portfolio.

01:45Despite these moves, the stock is down 22% from a year ago,

01:49resulting in a $4 billion drop in Jaipuriya's net worth, to $13.3 billion.

01:56Another deep-pocketed player has entered the fray.

01:59Billionaire brothers Shyam and Hari Bhartiya's Jubilant Bhartiya Group,

02:03which owns the Indian franchises for Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts,

02:08picked up a 40% stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings,

02:12parent company of the largest Coca-Cola-owned bottling unit in India.

02:17In December, when announcing the deal, which was valued at 125 billion rupees,

02:22the brothers said,

02:23This investment underscores our belief in the significant long-term growth potential

02:28of India's F&B sector.

02:30The Bhartiyas and Coca-Cola are reportedly aiming to eventually list the business.

02:37Compa-Cola, first introduced in 1977 as, quote,

02:41the Great Indian Taste, along with local rival Thumbs Up,

02:45became household names in the wake of Coca-Cola's exit from the country

02:48over restrictions on ownership.

02:50But Compa's sales waned after rules were eased,

02:53and the market reopened, allowing Coca-Cola to snap up Thumbs Up and stage its return.

03:00Reliance is taking Compa overseas, to the UAE and Nepal,

03:04the latter with the Chowdhury Group, controlled by billionaire Banad Chowdhury.

03:08Nearly two-thirds of those on Forbes Asia's 2025 India Rich List are less well-off this year.

03:16The collective wealth of India's 100 richest is down $100 billion.

03:21Among those who lost money is India's richest person, Mukesh Ambani,

03:26who serves as chairman and managing director of oil-to-telecom's behemoth, Reliance Industries.

03:30His net worth declined by 12%, or $14.5 billion,

03:36though he remains a centibillionaire with a fortune that stands at $105 billion.

03:42Ambani, who jumped into AI by setting up Reliance Intelligence,

03:46said he plans to list telecoms unit GEO in 2026.

03:51India's hopes of being on friendly terms with Trump 2.0

03:54were dashed when the U.S. slapped 50% tariffs on the country.

03:57To soften the blow, the Indian government announced sweeping reductions

04:02in the goods and services tax in September

04:04to boost consumption by making a range of items, including cars, cheaper.

04:09But a weaker rupee and a 3% decline in the benchmark Sensex

04:13since Forbes' last measured fortunes

04:15resulted in a 9% erosion in combined wealth to $1 trillion.

04:21For full coverage, and to see the India Rich List 2025 published last week,

04:26check out Yassar Rosendarr's piece on Forbes.com.

04:32This is Kieran Meadows from Forbes.

04:34Thanks for tuning in.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended