This is quite a remarkable development: Coca-Cola has decided to shut down its Bottling Investments Group, which has been responsible for bottling the beverage firm’s products in India and internationally. Coca-Cola’s restructuring is expected to have a great influence on its endeavour in the Indian subcontinent.
The BIG home office is planned to close on June 30, with the soft drink maker’s operations in India, Nepal, and Sri Lanka reporting directly to the company’s internal board. This implies that Coke’s fully-owned bottled water firm in India, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), will not be in control of BIG, the organisation that was set up in 2006.
HCCB, which started its operation in 1997, has been quite active in the Indian market and has been supplying to more than 2. 5 million retailers through a network of 3,500 distributors Sub. Currently, it has 16 manufacturing units nationwide, and the company is quite keen on its investment activity.
In the current year, HCCB divested partial control of its operations in Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal and the northeast to third-party players, tapping approximately ₹2,420 crores from these sales.
Coca-Cola’s decision to close down BIG and have its Indian division directly answerable has been perused as a strategic step in the way the company wants to focus more on creating the brand and the competition it wants to face in the Indian market. The company has been progressively divesting from bottling operations, and the divestment rate has escalated.
Coca-Cola’s plans to alter the structure of its operations in India bear a strong potential to affect the company’s prospects for continued growth in that country and eventually assume positions in relation to changing customer demographics and market landscapes.
