Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages(HCCB), the bottling partner for Coca-Cola India, is soon going to conduct a mass layoff with 300 employees. The company is comprised of 5,000 employees with 15 manufacturing facilities. The brands it offers services for and/or represents are Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Minute Maid juices, and Kinley bottled water. A Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages spokesperson said, “It is important for us to be in rhythm with changing demands, and hence we have assessed our capabilities and have also made corrections if needed.” The mass layoffs have been termed as a minor scale process that wouldn’t disrupt operations.
The impact of the cut was estimated to be between 4% to 6% of its employees in various functions such as sales, supply chain, and bottling operations of its plants, according to the financial daily. Hemant Rupani, ex-Mondelez International, has recently been appointed as the new CEO of HCCB, succeeding the previous CEO, Juan Pablo Rodriguez. HCCB has shown a significant fall of 73% in its net profit to Rs 756.64 crore in FY25, and its revenue from operations dropped by 9% to Rs 12,751.29 crore, according to the regulatory filing. The reason for this, as cited by the company, is the increased base in FY24, as they sold their bottling businesses in Rajasthan, Bihar, north-east, and some areas of West Bengal. These businesses were sold to its three largest bottlers, namely Moon Beverages, Kandhari Global Beverages, and SLM Beverages.
Under this model, Coca-Cola sells the concentrate to its bottling company,, which in turn manufacture and distribute the drinks. HCCB remains the biggest player in the beverage sector in the Indian market. Demand has also been muted by unseasonal and excessive rains between March and September. Peak season of April to June is the biggest sale period in the Rs 60,000-crore soft drinks market in the country.
