In India, Coca-Cola, the best thirst quencher can balance out the creaminess of dal makhani, spicy masalas of biryani, and sweetness of butter chicken.
However, our country's affair with Coca-Cola was not always so smooth. But we know, kisi cheez ko shiddat se chaho toh puri kayanat tumhe usse milane ki koshish krti hai (If you want something passionately, then the whole universe tries to make you meet it.) xD
Around the 1950s, when the nation was enjoying independence, Cola entered the market as people welcomed the fizzy drink with love. Coca-Cola practically became the market leader with a 100% foreign stake because before 1974 there was no act regulating the foreign companies about their stake.
Under the rule of Indira Gandhi's government, the FERA (Foreign Exchange Regulation Act) of 1974 was introduced under which MNCs were forced to reduce their stake to 40-74% and offer the shares to Indian investors. This was done to conserve the scarce foreign exchange and to allow more foreign companies to invest in Indian markets.
By the time the act was implemented, the Janta party came into power, and many companies decided to dilute their stake and stay in the Indian markets but many companies like IBM chose to withdraw from India. Coca-Cola was also one of them that withdrew from the country.
The product was so famous amongst the Indian youth that after the company exited, the Indian beverage industry was left in a void. But a man saw an opportunity to fill the cola-shaped hole and be a rebound to the customers of Coke drinkers.
The name was Ramesh Chauhan, the owner of Thums Up. He launched thump up in 1977 under Parle. He wasn't able to copy the taste of Coca-Cola, obviously, because of its secret recipe but didn't take much time to get popular in the market with its unique taste and marketing techniques. Thums Up was the market leader until the 90s and had a minor competition. 'Taste the Thunder' became the millennial's logo. But the rebound cannot stay forever since all the storms and thunders were awaited.
In 1991, LPG (liberalization, privatization, and globalization) policies allowed foreign companies to enter India more liberally. Coca-Cola entered the Indian markets again and this time, planned to stay. They entered by painting the towns of Delhi and Agra in red with a colorful parade of Coca-Cola trucks. ( filmy much? Xd)
But Thums Up had already been the first choice of Indian customers for 2 decades and even after facing competition from Coca-Cola, most people chose Thums Up over coke. However, Coca-Cola wouldn't allow its grand entry into the market to go in vain.
In the summer season, when the sales were at peak, Coke bought Thums Up supplies from its distributors and disposed them off so that they couldn't reach the retailers and ultimately the customers. Eventually, people started preferring Coca-Cola since Thums up got unavailable when people asked for it. Soon people developed a taste for Coke again.
Coca-Cola also found a loophole in the Thums Up production process. The soft spot was the bottling plants. These are the places where the drinks are put into the bottles and distributed to a chain of networks. The more a company owns the bottling plants, the more beneficial it is.
There were 62 pants out of which Thums Up owned only 4 and the rest 58 were under franchises and distributors.
The owners of these franchises were already unhappy about the leadership style of Ramesh Chauhan because he used to micro-manage all the things and the owners didn't have a stand in the decisions. So they were looking out for a more liberal approach.
Eventually, Coca-Cola started buying out these franchises and the distributor system and spent tonnes on doing so. Ramesh Chauhan remained helpless as he saw his distribution network getting destroyed. Soon, he was left with a less fraction of plants that weren't adequate to meet the demand of the customers.
This is when Coca-Cola took over Thums Up's market share because it was the next best drink in the absence of Thums Up. The red giant did everything it could to kill Thums Up and soon Thums Up's profits started trembling. It had to face major losses. Thums Up enjoyed a monopoly for 20 years and was loved by the Indian market a lot.
In 1993, Ramesh Chauhan was defeated and Coca-Cola finally acquired Thums Up with Limca, Maaza, Gold Spot and Citra (love conquers all xd) for around $60 million. Two of them were later discontinued by the American giant.
Coca-Cola now owns Thums Up, Maaza, Limca, Fanta, Sprite, Kinley, Minute Maid, Costa Coffee and RimJhim. It owns 56.75% of the Indian market share while PepsiCo, its major competitor holds 34.1%. Since it has deep pockets, it spends a lot on advertisements in newspapers, and magazines but mostly by giving out free mini-fridges to the grocery or Kirana shop owners with Coca-Cola's logo and designs all over them.
The excellence of the product is felt when it comes into the sight of consumers and as John Lyly said, " Everything is fair in love and war", Coca-Cola chose the path of the war with Thums Up and also kept the love alive with its customers by giving them a 'taste of the feeling.' XD
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