India driving Coca-Cola's frugal innovation

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.