Coca-Cola plans India IPO for its bottling arm in 2027

GEORGIA: Coca-Cola is pushing to list its Indian bottling arm, betting that a public offering will unlock value in one of its fastest-growing markets even as competition from Reliance’s Campa Cola heats up.

The beverage giant said on Monday it was exploring an initial public offering for Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings, the parent of its largest bottler in the country, on the BSE and the National Stock Exchange in 2027. It is also considering selling a portion of its stake in the unit. Rothschild has been retained to advise on the listing, which Bloomberg News reported last year would value the bottler at $10 billion.

Coca-Cola currently holds a 60 per cent stake in Hindustan Coca-Cola Holdings after the Jubilant Bhartia Group completed the purchase of a 40 per cent stake in 2025. The bottler operates 14 plants across 10 states and handles the packaging, distribution and sale of brands including Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Fanta, Maaza, Minute Maid and Limca. It runs a distribution network of over 2,000 primary distributors serving 1.7 million retail outlets, supported by eight third-party co-packers and a workforce of more than 5,000 people.

India has become a critical market for the drinks giant. It reported sales of Rs 50 billion ($526m) in 2024-25, its highest since at least 2021. Sanket Ray, Coca-Cola’s president for India and Southwest Asia and emerging large markets lead, said the company would stay invested in the bottler and focus on growing its portfolio of global and local brands in the country. Shyam and Hari Bhartia, chairman and co-chairman of Jubilant Bhartia Group, said they were excited to take the bottler to the public markets and looked forward to continuing to work with Coca-Cola as a key shareholder.

The IPO push comes as Reliance’s Campa Cola piles pressure on established players with aggressive pricing. Investors will also have a ready benchmark once the stock lists: rival PepsiCo’s Indian bottling operator, Varun Beverages, has had a strong run on the public markets since its debut in November 2016. For Coca-Cola, getting to market before the rivalry bites deeper into margins may matter just as much as the listing itself.