The charge of the locals

The southern market has eight big local brands that compete with Coke and Pepsi

For Coke and Pepsi, summer has always been a season of plenty. As temperatures shoot up, so do advertising budgets and brand launches. However this year, the plans have received a setback in the South, primarily Tamil Nadu, where sales are down because of a traders’ boycott. While the full impact on final sales numbers is still not known, a number of small homegrown brands say their sales have doubled since the beginning of the month and they have lined up new launches and promotional schemes to cash in on the emerging opportunity. They are also raising production capacities to