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The Indian soft drink market is expected to see "significant growth" as consumption is anticipated to increase steadily, which will deliver sustainable and healthy volume growth across all product categories, said Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL), PepsiCo's largest franchise bottler. This would be driven by factors such as shifting population demographics, the rising spending power of young consumers, accelerated urbanisation, and growing rural consumption. The company is in the process of further expanding its capacities to meet the higher demand expectations, said VBL in its latest annual report. Its distribution model and on-the-ground end-to-end infrastructure facilities continue to be the key growth drivers and VBL remains committed to extending it to newer areas and under-penetrated regions to further boost its market presence," it added. While from an operational standpoint, VBL continues to focus on new product categories and evolving customer preferences. Launch of new products
The beverage industry has urged the government to remove aerated drinks fromthe sin tax category and reduce rate on juice-based drinks under the GST regime. Reduction of taxes on juices would give a boost to local horticulture sector and improve the lives of farmers, from which the industry sources fruits, Indian Beverage Association (IBA) said in a statement. IBA in a letter to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who also heads the GST Council, has suggested placing the packaged drinking water in a lower slab of 12 per cent from the existing 18 per cent. The aerated beverages are currently placed under the highest GST slab of 28 per cent with a compensation cess of 12 per cent. "This high GST levy of 40 per cent on aerated beverages is against the stated policy of the government to maintain parity between pre-GST and GST regimes," IBA said, adding that aerated beverage is the only product in the entire food category subjected to compensation cess. It has also urged to revise "th