Coca Cola to set up juice plants in north India

Coca Cola India is scouting for locations north of Delhi to set up its citrus juice and pulp processing plants.

The company would set up units at multiple locations to meet the huge demand for branded fruit pulp, said Venkatesh Kini, Coca Cola India's vice-president, marketing. He said the investment would be substantial but declined to reveal the amount.

The company rolled out its Minute Maid Pulpy Orange in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh today. Kini said the juice was soft launched in south India and got a tremendous response and the same was expected from north. The company has a processing unit in Andhra Pradesh at Chittoor to cater to market in the south.

He added that the company was aligning capacities across the country to maximise its market share.

For the northern states, the company imports from China but it is contemplating setting up processing and bottling units in this part of the country.

Kini said the brand had a strategy for aggressive marketing and would target those between 24 and 30 years. He said the company was importing fruit juice and pulp but would subsequently switch over to local farmers. According to him, the present size of processed juice in India is 50 million cases, which is only 10 per cent of the total market for juices.

He added that after consolidating its position in the orange pulp and juice market it would diversify into other fruit flavours.