Coca-Cola CEO sees long-term potential in Indian market after cracking year

India had a cracking year last year, and is off to a strong start this year, The Coca-Cola Company CEO James Quincey said in earnings call on Tuesday.

The potential in the Indian market is huge and is set to take off, he said, given that the development of the beverage industry is still very nascent in India.

The backdrop to the "cracking growth", he said was that the Indian economy and the Indian consumer base is approaching a level of GDP per head, at which historically, the beverage industry has tended to accelerate its development.

"We are very encouraged by the potential in India to develop a fantastic beverage industry and beverage opportunity," he added.

The Coca-Cola Company reported its fourth quarter (October to December) earnings on Tuesday with net revenues growing 7 percent to $10.1 billion and an 11 percent growth for the full year of 2022 to $43 billion.

Unit case volume declined one percent for the quarter, and the company said strong growth in Brazil, India, Great Britain and Mexico was more than offset by the suspension of business in Russia.

Elaborating on the Indian market during the call, Quincey added that the Indian market is growing on all dimensions - in terms of depth of brands, distribution, and number of packages.

"It won't, in all likelihood, be a straight line, but there is huge potential in India," he added.

This also exemplifies, he added, the very long-term opportunity of emerging markets, India, Africa, parts of Eurasia, parts of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

"They themselves have 80 percent of the world's population. And the development of the beverage industry is a-third of what it is in the developed market," Quincey said.

India is currently the fifth-largest market for Coca-Cola globally and its most popular brand in India - Thums Up became a billion-dollar brand in 2021. Sprite too, became a billion dollar brand last quarter breaching the mark in annual sales.