Coca-Cola Layoffs: Coca-Cola India’s bottling arm, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), is cutting around 300 jobs as part of efforts to improve profitability under its new leadership and streamline operations,
people familiar with the matter said. The decision was communicated internally over the past fortnight.
HCCB employs about 5,000 people and operates 15 manufacturing facilities across the country, where it bottles and distributes brands such as Coca-Cola, Thums Up and Sprite aerated drinks, Minute Maid juices, and Kinley water, among others.
“Staying in sync with evolving business needs requires us to re-evaluate capabilities, structures, and take corrective actions where necessary,” a company spokesperson told the Economic Times. Describing the downsizing as “minor in scale and non-disruptive to operations”, the spokesperson added, “We periodically assess business operations to stay competitive, efficient and agile.”
Coca-Cola is a single-largest beverage company in India, holding a leadership position in the soft drinks segment.
FY25 profit down 73%
Around 4–6% of the workforce is being downsized across functions such as sales, supply chain, distribution and bottling operations at plants, one of the people cited earlier said, requesting anonymity.
HCCB reported a 73% fall in net profit to Rs 756.64 crore in FY25, while revenue from operations declined 9% to Rs 12,751.29 crore, according to regulatory filings sourced from business intelligence platform Tofler. The company attributed the decline to a higher year-on-year base in FY24, when it sold bottling operations in several territories to existing franchise partners.
HCCB sold bottling operations in Rajasthan, Bihar, the north-east and parts of West Bengal to three of its largest bottlers—Moon Beverages, Kandhari Global Beverages and SLMG Beverages. Coca-Cola supplies concentrate to these bottling partners, who then manufacture and distribute the beverages.
Demand during the year was also subdued due to unseasonal and heavy rainfall during the peak summer months from March to September. The April–June period accounts for the single largest quarter annually for India’s nearly Rs 60,000-crore soft drinks market.
