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Ratna Bhushan

NEW DELHI, April 23

HERE'S the latest on the cola spat. Soft drink majors Coca-Cola and Pepsi have yet again locked horns over market share of their respective brands.

According to A.C. Nielsen/ORG, all-India data for January 2003, Coca-Cola India's Thums Up brand has consolidated its position as the country's leading cola brand, with a market share of 23.7 per cent of the overall carbonated soft drink industry, with Pepsi's share being at 21.6 per cent. Said a Coca-Cola spokesperson, "Thums Up has been the leading cola brand since November last year. The gains have come predominantly from 200-ml returnable glass bottles."

The market share figure for brand Coke, however, was not made available by the company.

Coca-Cola has identified the 200-ml glass bottles size as its core thrust area this season.

The Coca-Cola Company's results, declared earlier this week in the US, had stated that local brand Thums Up, in addition to the company's bottled water brand, Kinley, helped it register double-digit growth in India in the first quarter of 2003.

Rival Pepsi Foods, on the other hand, says that it has consolidated its position in the bottled soft drinks industry in the country, with an increased overall market share of 49.5 per cent at the end of February 2003, versus 46 per cent in December 2002.

"As per the figures released by the Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB), all Pepsi brands — Pepsi Cola, Mirinda, and 7 Up — have experienced strong growth during the period ending February 2003, as against the same period last year. Brand Pepsi has maintained its dominant leadership in the soft drink industry with a 24.5 per cent share, while Coke's share fell from 13.9 per cent in December 2002 to 12.8 per cent in February 2003. Thums Up's share also declined to 13.9 per cent from 14 per cent in the same period," a Pepsi spokesperson said.

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