Coke enters immunity-boosting beverages category

New Delhi

Beverage major Coca-Cola India on Tuesday unveiled two new brands to mark its entry into the nascent immunity-boosting beverages category in India.

Accordingly, the company under its master brand Minute Maid, introduced two new products which claim to deliver some of the daily essential nutrition requirements, extracted from fruits grown by Indian farmers.

Apart from allowing the company's entry into immunity-boosting category, the new products - Minute Maid Nutriforce and Minute Maid Vita Punch - are also in line with its efforts to advance beverage localisation.

"Our long-term strategy entails offering more and more fruit-based beverages in line with consumer preferences," said T. Krishnakumar, President, Coca-Cola India and Southwest Asia.

"The expansion of our portfolio of nutritious juices under Minute Maid is in line with our aim to nourish every Indian and become India's first choice in fruit nutrition."

Furthermore, the company said that expansion of the Minute Maid brand with introduction of the new beverages also underlines Coca-Cola India's focus on the ‘Fruit Circular Economy' initiative, enabling farmers to increase their yield by sourcing fruits to launch fruit-based beverages.

At present, Coca-Cola India has committed an investment of $1.7 billion towards creating a ‘Fruit Circular Economy' to aid the Indian agri-ecosystem till 2023.

Besides the strategy to deal with the pandemic, the company has also committed an initial support of over Rs 100 crore for helping the healthcare system and communities to combat COVID-19 and contain its spread.

At present, the company offers a range of beverages, including Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Thumbs Up, Fanta, Limca and Sprite, among others.

In addition, the Coca-Cola India system provides direct employment to 25,000 people and indirect employment to more than 150,000 people.