Coca-Cola keeps India investment pedal down, sees long runway through affordability and premiumisation

India continues to be one of Coca-Cola's biggest long-term growth markets, with the beverage maker stepping up investments to bring more consumers into its franchise through affordable offerings while simultaneously expanding its premium portfolio, despite near-term pressure on margins.

Speaking during the company's second quarter earnings call, chief executive officer Henrique Braun said Coca-Cola is deliberately investing ahead of the curve in India to build the business for the future, despite the near-term impact on price mix. 

"The region is a long-term opportunity and continues to be very attractive to us. We continue to build this for the future," Braun said. "We're going to continue to invest ahead of the curve, bringing more consumers to the base in the right way, dialling up our revenue growth management capabilities." 

In the weeks following the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, the company had faced supply disruptions in India which squeezed aluminium can availability and contributed to a shortage of Diet Coke in the country. Coca-Cola had subsequently increased prices across India.

"Across much of the world, we see an uneven consumer environment. The economy is strong in many places, yet many consumers face inflationary pressures, geopolitical uncertainty, and economic challenges. They are evaluating how they shop, what they value, and what they want to put in their basket," said Braun.

During the quarter, Asia Pacific recorded volume growth across all operating units and nearly all beverage categories. However, comparable operating income in the region declined as Coca-Cola increased investments to expand its consumer base across socioeconomic segments.

The company said India is benefiting from its revenue growth management capabilities, while overall growth remained broad based across channels and consumption occasions.  Braun said affordability remains central to Coca-Cola's India strategy, but the company is simultaneously investing in premium products to capture higher value consumption.

"We're seeing not only opportunities on the affordability part, where we're investing ahead of the curve, but also on the premiumisation side as well," he said, adding that Coca-Cola owns seven of the country's top ten beverage brands and strengthening those brands remains its primary objective. 

Investments weigh on price mix

Responding to analysts on the weaker price mix in Asia Pacific, Braun said the impact stemmed from three factors. Around one third came from the timing of investments, another third from affordability initiatives, including investments in cold drink equipment and execution capabilities, while the remaining impact was due to geographic mix as faster growing India and China outpaced developed markets such as Australia, Japan and South Korea. 

Despite these investments, Coca-Cola said it remains committed to balancing volume growth with pricing. Braun noted that 2026 was always expected to be a year in which volume and price mix moved "more in tandem," and said the first half performance was tracking that strategy. 

Globally, Coca-Cola reported 5% unit case volume growth and 6% organic revenue growth during the second quarter, helped by favourable weather, FIFA World Cup activations and an easier year ago comparison. Price mix increased 2%, while comparable earnings per share rose 11% to $0.97. Free cash flow increased to about $6.9 billion. 

Looking ahead, the company raised its 2026 outlook and now expects organic revenue growth of about 5%, currency neutral comparable earnings per share growth of 7% to 8%, and reported comparable earnings per share growth of 9% to 10%.

Management said commodity volatility remains manageable and reiterated that staying close to consumers through the right brands, pack sizes and price points will remain its key strategy across markets, including India.