Monday, February 24, 2025 | 05:10 PM ISTहिंदी में पढें
Business Standard
Notification Icon
userprofile IconSearch

India driving Coca-Cola's frugal innovation

Coca-Cola India had stepped up its innovation push to be future-ready, company president for India and South West Asia, Venkatesh Kini, said

India driving Coca-Cola's frugal innovation

Viveat Susan PintoArnab Dutta Mumbai/New Delhi
Coca-Cola, the world's largest beverage maker, is increasingly turning to its Indian unit for affordable solutions.

Coca-Cola India had stepped up its innovation push to be future-ready, company president for India and South West Asia, Venkatesh Kini, said.

Innovations taken to other markets included solar-powered coolers, affordable two-valve fountains and ice-boxes that chilled for hours despite power cuts, he added.

Coca-Cola's bottling arm Hindustan Coca-Cola was also contributing, he added, with mobile vending machines and splash bars serving 100-150 ml cups from 2-litre bottles.

"We are scaling up splash bars in India and these are being tested in other markets," Kini said.

The Altanta-headquartered beverage major is also counting on the Indian unit and its partners for production and packaging solutions.

"There is a little bit of India in what in the Coca-Cola universe is called the 'plant bottle'," Kini explained. "This bottle, used for packaging bottled water in 50-60 of Coca-Cola markets, has 30 per cent plant material. The material was developed by India Glycol in partnership with our global research team. India is rapidly becoming a centre for frugal innovation for the company worldwide," he said.

While Kini declined to specify the research investment in India, he said it remained a priority for the company.

 
India is among the few key markets where Coca-Cola has a global research centre. Others are located in China, Latin America, Europe and the US.

Don't miss the most important news and views of the day. Get them on our Telegram channel

First Published: Oct 22 2015 | 12:50 AM IST

Explore News