This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of India’s Richest 2025. See the full list here.
India’s cola wars are bubbling over with the revival of homegrown brand Campa Cola by Reliance Consumer Products, a unit of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries. Since acquiring the brand three years ago, Reliance Consumer, overseen by his daughter Isha, has followed its playbook of aggressive pricing to shake up the country’s soft drinks market, which has long been dominated by The Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Campa sells 200ml bottles for 10 rupees (12 cents), about half the retail price of 250ml bottles from the American giants.
“Campa Cola now holds double-digit market share across many states, breaking a 30-year [multinational] duopoly,” Ambani disclosed at the annual shareholders’ meeting in August.
The frothy competition poses a challenge to India’s cola king, Ravi Jaipuria, whose Varun Beverages is PepsiCo’s second-largest bottler outside the U.S. In an earnings conference call in July, he acknowledged, “Of course, competition is there, however they will get their share, and we will get ours.”
While nearly three-fourths of the company’s 126 billion rupees in revenue comes from India, where it has 36 bottling plants, Varun Beverages is looking overseas for growth. In 2024, it inked deals to acquire PepsiCo’s businesses in Tanzania and Ghana to add to its 13-country strong portfolio. Despite these moves, the stock is down 22% from a year ago, resulting in a $4 billion drop in Jaipuria’s net worth to $13.3 billion.
Another deep-pocketed player has entered the fray. Billionaire brothers Shyam and Hari Bhartia’s Jubilant Bhartia Group, which owns the Indian franchises for Domino’s Pizza and Dunkin’ Donuts, picked up a 40% stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings, parent company of the largest Coca-Cola-owned bottling unit in India.
“This investment underscores our belief in the significant long‐term growth potential of India’s F&B sector,” the brothers said in December when announcing the deal, valued at 125 billion rupees. The Bhartias and Coca-Cola are reportedly aiming to eventually list the business.
First introduced in 1977 as “The Great Indian Taste,” Campa Cola, along with local rival Thums Up, became household names in the wake of Coca-Cola’s exit from the country over restrictions on ownership. But Campa’s sales waned after rules were eased and the market reopened, allowing Coca-Cola to snap up Thums Up and stage its return. Reliance is taking Campa overseas, to the UAE and Nepal, the latter with the Chaudhary Group, controlled by billionaire Binod Chaudhary.