Coca-Cola, PepsiCo choose different paths to bottling business

While one is leaning on outsourcing of bottling business in India, the other is streamlining operations to stay relevant

Cola majors PepsiCo and Coca-Cola seem to share divergent strategies when it comes to bottling in India. While PepsiCo exited operations in the north and east of India, rival Coca-Cola is streamlining its bottling operations to stay relevant with the times.

In a statement on Tuesday, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola India, said it was strengthening its sales and supply-chain functions, manufacturing a wider range of beverages from premium to value and merging the existing alternate beverage division into mainstream distribution to achieve its new turnover target of $2.5 billion (or Rs 16,250 crore) by 2020. Sources