Reliance to take Campa overseas to add more zing to cola business

Kolkata: Reliance Industries is set to introduce Campa Cola in the Middle East, the first export destination for the cola brand that has disrupted the Indian market for carbonated soft drinks, unsettling Coca-Cola and PepsiCo with its strategy of low product pricing and higher trade margins.

The Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate is likely to replicate its strategy for the Indian market in the Middle East at a time when Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are reportedly facing the brunt of a call to shun American products due to US support to Israel especially in the war in Gaza. Campa Cola consignments from India have already reached retail stores in Bahrain and the company will add more countries like Oman and Saudi Arabia in phases, two industry executives said asking not to be named.

"Reliance wants to sell Campa in the entire Middle East and has started testing the waters. The availability will be progressively scaled up before summer," one of them said.


Reliance Consumer Products (RCPL), RIL's fast-moving consumer goods arm, is also exploring a local partnership for bottling Campa in countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. For now, it will import from India.

RCPL did not respond to an email query.

The executives cited above said Reliance expects to benefit from the call to boycott American products by local consumers in the Middle East due to US support to Israel. Recent reports said sales of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been hit in several Gulf nations with consumers there shifting to local colas or brands of other nations.

Reliance chairman Mukesh Ambani's daughter Isha Ambani, who leads the group's FMCG and retail businesses, had told the company's shareholders during an annual general meeting in 2023 that the group has plans to take Campa global "starting with Asia and Africa."

A bottling base in the Middle East will also help Reliance to easily enter Africa due to its geographical proximity, an executive said.

As per a report by Nuvama Institutional Equities, Indian consumer is value-focussed and Campa's cut-throat ₹10 pricing, higher trade commissions and PET-only bottle strategy are adversely affecting rivals. "Listed beverage-FMCGs such as Dabur, Tata Consumer and Varun Beverages are feeling the heat from Campa," it said.

Tata Consumer Products CEO Sunil D'Souza told analysts during its September quarter earnings call that a "new player (Campa) coming in with a different price point disrupted the industry." He had said selling at this price is "not sustainable", and the company is making a loss of '1.5-2 per bottle.