FNB News - HCCB to manufacture beverages in every category with consumer relevance

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BEVERAGE

HCCB to manufacture beverages in every category with consumer relevance

Saturday, 17 June, 2017, 08 : 00 AM [IST]

Our Bureau, Bengaluru

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCB) - one of India’s top ten fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies – will manufacture products in every beverage category that has consumer relevance.

While HCCB has traditionally been focusing on carbonated beverages and juices, it is now investing on infrastructure that can produce flavoured milk products, mineral-fortified hydration products, fruit-based products and traditional Indian drinks like the jaljeera-flavoured Rimzhim.

HCCB is already the largest manufacturer of juice drinks, which it distributes in over one million retail outlets through a network of 4,000 company-appointed distributors.

The Minute Maid range of juice drinks, available in several variants, and the mango juice Maaza, are the key offerings of the company, which has recently started manufacturing the mosambi (sweet lime) variant of Minute Maid, which is being sold in Maharashtra.

Christina Ruggiero, HCCB’s newly-appointed chief executive officer, and TKrishnakumar, its erstwhile chief executive officer, outlined the company’s strategy in Bengaluru recently.

The company has recently relocated its corporate headquarters to the Karnataka capital to better focus on its south India business.

An estimated 40 per cent of the company’s volume comes from the four southern Indian states (Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh).

HCCB already employs over 8,000 people directly and operates 19 factories. Three of these factories are in Karnataka.

Krishnakumar said, “HCCB is one of largest institutional buyers of agricultural produce and fruit pulp – worth over Rs2,000 crore - benefiting 250,000 farmers.”

“In the next five years, the company, along with the 13 other franchise bottlers of the Coca-Cola Company in India, plan to spend Rs5,200 crore towards the procurement of processed fruit pulp and fruit concentrate. This will have a direct positive impact on over 5,00,000 farmers,” he added.

Ruggiero said, “My focus going forward is to build HCCB into a total beverage company, that has a play in all beverage categories of relevance. This also involves building the HCCB brand, which involves more public outreach and communication with stakeholders.”