Coca Cola To Launch New Variant Of Thums Up After 4 Decades

Jagatjit Industries Limited (JIL), one of India’s oldest and established Liquor company, engaged in Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), Country Liquor, Malted Milk Foods, Malt extract and Real Estate, today announced its proposed partnership and association with Lost Spirits Technologies (LST), USA, an award-winning Los Angeles based distillery adopting disruptive accelerated aging technology producing whiskey and rum.

LST is a pioneer and the most successful company to have mastered and demystified the chemistry involved in the barrel aging of spirits and has been very successful in creating technology which can replicate very high quality accelerated aging of alcoholic spirits.

LST has been widely acknowledged for its use for this disruptive technology which results in replication of a 20 year aged alcoholic spirit in a span of 6 days producing the same chemical signature and taste.

“India is the world’s largest individual whiskey market.  So for Lost Spirits, choosing a technology partner in India was a very important decision. After working together for the past 18 months, we are delighted to see the project progress and excited to share the forthcoming developments,” shared Bryan Davis, Founder & CEO, Lost Spirits.

With this association Jagatjit Industries Limited (JIL) will enhance current product portfolio and launch new products in the premium segment using this technology in the near future.

The partnership will also allow the technology to be made available to all players in the industry who choose to use it in India. Since India is one of the largest liquor markets in the world, it is JIL’s objective to use this technology to reduce the dependence on imports from Scotland and the prohibitive costs associated with Barrel Aging.

“Jagatjit Industries has always been a company that has been on the forefront of change and innovation. This is a significant strategy for our future to remain sustainable, designed to strengthen Jagatjit Industries, and to create long-term value for our shareholders and stakeholders across the value chain,” added Roshini Sanah Jaiswal, Chief Restructuring Officer (CRO) of Jagatjit Industries.

With this technology JIL will strive towards world class aged and matured alcoholic spirits which will be “Made in India”. It will also further India’s position as a world class whisky hub capable of producing top of the line alcoholic spirits at very competitive price., further reducing import costs and increasing export value.

In a strategic shift, beverage companies across the country have decided to target rural India to push healthier drinks, as the growth of sugary carbonated drinks has started tapering off.

Currently, rural and semi-urban segments occupy 60% of the juice market in India and have been growing faster than metros, according to data from US-headquartered PepsiCo, which sells Pepsi, 7UP, and Mountain Dew.

Along with PepsiCo, companies, including Gujarat-based Manpasand Beverages, Dabur and Bisleri have started packing juices and juice-based drinks into small affordable PET bottles for rural consumption. Traditionally, sugary fizzy drinks priced at Rs 10 were mainstays in rural and semi-urban markets.

“Any shop in rural areas that stocks digestive biscuits will be able to sell juice,” said Abhishek Singh, director of Manpasand Beverages. The Vadodara-based company has developed juices sweetened with honey instead of sugar. “As we are deeply entrenched in semi-urban markets, we have noticed people there have started opting for healthier alternatives, which explains the penetration of digestive biscuits,” he added.

Fresca juices, which has been selling litchi and apple juices in small packs is upping the ante with two-litre family sized packs. “It makes more economical sense for customers in smaller towns,” said Akhil Gupta, MD of Fresca Juices. “We have seen people coming in tractors to pick up crates of juices in villages.”

PepsiCo, which just launched juice-based drinks under the Slice brand has partnered with Ravi Jaipuria-led Varun Beverages to increase its reach in rural and semi-urban areas. It aims to double sales of its juice brand Tropicana by 2020 and is shifting away marketing money from its main carbonated brands. “We have reduced our investments on commoditised, low-margin segments including low juice content segments,” said Deepika Warrier, VP-nutrition category at PepsiCo India.

“With growing health consciousness, the market for healthy beverages has expanded exponentially. On one hand, we are driving our 200ml portion packs in low penetration geographies through a mix of demand as well as distribution enhancement and on-ground visibility initiatives. On the other, we have also expanded the range with the launch of a fruit beverage, Real Koolerz at a lower price point,” Dabur India marketing head-foods Mayank Kumar said.

Sleepy Owl Coffee Pvt. Ltd, which sells cold brew coffee under the Sleepy Owl brand has received Rs 3.5 crore (around $540,000) Funding from Early-stage investment firm DSG Consumer Partners.

In a statement, Delhi-based Sleepy Owl said it plans to use the seed funding to expand its product portfolio and grow its footprint across the country with its main in Delhi-NCR.

Sleepy Owl co-founder Ajai Thandi said the fresh infusion would help the firm streamline operations. He said the main focus for the year ahead would be to increase Sleepy Owl’s existing customer base of 15,000 by increasing stock keeping units (SKUs), boosting retail presence and marketing.

Thandi, Ashwajeet Singh, and Arman Sood had set up Sleepy Owl in June 2016. The company, which was incorporated last year, sells coffee through its ready-to-drink offerings as well as powder packets.

Cold brew coffee involves steeping coffee beans in cold water for nearly a day, with no use of external heat.

Deepak Shahdadpuri, managing director at DSG Consumer Partners, said the segment is increasingly becoming popular around the world.

Trilegal acted as legal advisor to DSG Consumer Partners on the Sleepy Owl deal.

PepsiCo is all set to bring the new diet Pepsi to the market by this week.

The company said in response to customer feedback that it would replace the aspartame in the drink with another artificial sweetener that has less baggage, reported AP.

The rollout will test the theory that the sweetener is to blame for fleeing customers or if other issues might be at play.

Other diet sodas that still have aspartame include Diet Coke, Diet Dr Pepper and Fanta Zero.

Traditional diet sodas sales have been falling. Industry executives blaming the freefall on unfounded concerns people have about aspartame. Two years back, Coca-Cola even tested ads in select newspapers defending the safety of the sweetener.

"It's the No. 1 think that our customers have been calling about,'' said Seth Kaufman, a senior vice president at PepsiCo.

In the short term, Diet Pepsi sales are likely to see bump from the marketing push around the new formula, which will include in-store sampling and discounting in coming weeks.

And in terms of taste, Kaufman said it's not identical but that the drink should still be familiar to fans of Diet Pepsi.

This is not the first attempt by PepsiCo Inc. to lift flagging sales of Diet Pepsi. In 2012, the company tried improving the drink by combining aspartame with acesulfame potassium, often called ace-K, another artificial sweetener that helps prevent the taste from degrading over time.

The newest version of Diet Pepsi will also have ace-K in addition to sucralose, best known by the brand name Splenda. The new cans will be patent with the words ``Now Aspartame Free'' above the Pepsi circle logo.

Keeping in view the Supreme Court ruling of 2012 regarding the health of the Amarnath yatra pilgrims, the ban on the sale of cold drinks and junk food enroute the cave shrine will be strictly enforced from this year by the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, reported PTI.

"There was a Supreme Court ruling in this regard in 2012, so the decision was taken to completely ban the sale and consumption of cold drinks and junk food enroute the cave shrine," shared Pankaj Anand, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, SASB.

An experts' committee, formed following the Supreme Court's concern over the large number of pilgrim deaths in 2012, had cautioned the consumption of cold drinks and fried junk food as there is shortage of oxygen enroute the cave shrine.

"Health experts say that it becomes difficult to digest such food items in the absence of adequate oxygen supply which gives rise to breathing problems hence make yatra difficult for the pilgrims," added Anand.

The decision of banning these food items was in place in 2013 and 2014 also but it would be strictly enforced from this year.

The SASB has also asked the langer organisers to desist from distributing fried food items and cold drinks as they are not good for health in low oxygen conditions.

It has instructed the organisers to display the menu of the food items being prepared and distributed by them to the pilgrims, he said.

The shrine board authorities will take stringent action against those who violate the orders.

"In the past also action was taken and those who are found violating these orders would be blacklisted in future," he said.

Coca Cola, one of teh largest bottling manufacturers in India has been fined Rs 15 lakh by the Uttar Pradesh government for selling soft drinks beyond the expiry date. A distributor of the company's products was also fined Rs 1 lakh by Additional District Magistrate Vishal Singh in the Bulandshahar district who is in charge of food safety.

The action came after five samples of the company's soft drinks collected in 2012 were found to be 'sub-standard' in tests conducted at the state government laboratory in Lucknow.

According to Singh, large quantities of soft drinks which have passed expiry dates were found during a raid at the distributor's godown.

"The order was signed yesterday and company has been given 15 days time to deposit the sum into the state treasury. At the same time they can appeal against the order," added Singh.

When contacted, a spokesperson of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) said the company has not received any such order till date.

"On receipt (of the order) HCCB will review and take appropriate legal recourse. We are confident of the safety and quality of our products and would reassure our consumers of the same. We exercise stringent quality and safety measures specifically designed to prevent any product integrity issues," said the spokesperson.

According to local distributor Rajesh Sharma, he had intimated the company about the expired stock and alleged that it wasn't taken back.