Fizz in carbonated drinks is here to stay, as makers go for innovative mixes

“CSD in India is going to stay and will grow despite the fear that it is slowing down. With this believe we have introduced an Indian brand ‘Fly Up’ in carbonated drink segment during the festive season,” Greenfizz Beverages Director Pramod Lundia said. 

He said “the main brunt is on colas and not the other variants. The total beverage market is shared equally between carbonated drinks and non-carbonated drinks.”

Speaking about the market, another Director Punit Lundia said “whatever slowdown is witnessed is in cities and not in rural areas which still remains an untapped market.  “The overall volume of even Colas has not dipped, but fresh growth is taking place in other variants like lime and lemon flavours,” he said.

To overcome some negative perception about the carbonated drinks, we have introduced fruit based carbonated drink and not carbonated soft drink by two MNCs which enjoy 60 per cent of the market, he said. Lundia said they were already bottlers for a US soft drink brand ‘RC’ and had world class modern production lines and its existing capacity of at least 20 million cases a year.

“Initially, we will focus in West Bengal within 150 km from our manufacturing facility in Singur before expanding further,” he said. “We hope for Rs 200 crore revenue in the first year equivalent to two per cent of the estimated Rs 1000 crore market for CSDs,” he said.

The company with home grown brand ‘Fly UP’ has four variants now to compete with the MNC market leaders in cola, lemon, orange and jeera flavours.