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Coke steps up war against Pepsi

Coca-Cola is going on the offensive against its rival Pepsi.

Coca-Cola continues to retain its monopoly in the Goan market despite losing its main bottler Goa Bottling Limited to Pepsi in November. Revolting against certain conditions laid down by the franchise owners, the multinational tied up with a small Pepsi bottler, the United Breweries Limited, owned by mine-owner Dempos.

Coca-Cola is now setting up a huge bottling plant in Goa, giving a new twist to the cola wars.

The plan is to expand in a big way in the whole Konkan belt, covering two districts of Maharashtra, Goa and up to Mangalore as well as Dharwar in Karnataka.

About 25 acres of land has already been acquired at the Verna industrial estate. With a built-up area of around 8,000 sq m, the Rs 300 million plant is expected to be commissioned by the end of the year. Owned by Coca-Cola South West Limited, the plant will have the most sophisticated machinery, with a capacity of 60,000 crates per day.

In order to retain its market hold of around 65 per cent in the organised sector, Coke has been importing around 15,000 crates every day from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat, spending around Rs 375,000 on transportation alone.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has tied up with Top Cola, a local bottler, for producing around 1,200 crates of Bisleri mineral water per day. It has also entered into another agreement with Suprenica Breweries Limited of Mangalore. The latter's plant has a capacity of 10,000 crates per day.