Global soft drinks behemothThe Coca-Cola Company, which owns the Indian soft drink brand Thums Up, acquired it in 1993, when the Atlanta-headquartered company re-entered the Indian market, from Ramesh Chauhan of Parle Bisleri. Then Coca-Cola bought the entire portfolio of aerated drinks from the Chauhan brothers, which also included Gold Spot and Limca.
Thums Up was launched nearly 45 years ago, in 1977, after Coca-Cola exited the Indian market following a directive from the then-Morarji Desai government to reduce its ownership stake in its Indian operation.
And now Thums Up has become a billion-dollar brand in 2021, Coca-Cola Company’s Chairman and CEO James Quincey said, “Our local Thums Up brand became a USD one billion brand in India, driven by focused marketing and execution plans.”
This is the first home-grown Indian beverage brand, ascending to billion-dollar sales and is one of the leading players in the aerated beverage market in the country. For the three months to December 2021, the maker of Sprite and Limca drinks said its brands gained market share month-on-month. In the fourth quarter, Coca-Cola’s inventiveness in India to build an omnichannel presence and marketing campaigns around key occasions by leveraging festivals and passion points, through occasion-led marketing and integrated execution, drove a sequential increase in market share and nearly 30 percent growth in transactions for the quarter.