Reliance Industries has secured interim relief from the Delhi High Court in its dispute with the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) over
the labelling and marketing of its Campa beverages as “energy drinks”. The court on Tuesday permitted the Mukesh Ambani-led conglomerate to continue marketing the Campa products under the “energy drinks” description, according to a Reuters report. The development comes after the food safety regulator directed manufacturers of high-caffeine beverages in June to stop describing their products as “energy drinks”. Reliance Consumer Products, the FMCG arm of Reliance Industries, subsequently approached the Delhi High Court challenging the regulator’s decision. During the hearing, the Delhi High Court raised questions over the procedure followed by FSSAI while taking action against Reliance. The court particularly questioned why the regulator had not issued a notice to Reliance before passing the order. It observed that it was “never too late” for the authority to rectify the issue. The legal dispute is scheduled to come up again on November 5. The court is also expected to hear challenges filed by other major beverage companies, including PepsiCo and Monster Beverage, against the FSSAI directive. Why Reliance Challenged FSSAI’s June Order Reliance Consumer Products filed a writ petition on October 1 seeking the quashing of FSSAI’s June directive. The company has argued that the regulatory action had major implications for its business and the distribution of its products. Its petition highlighted the scale of inventory and packaging already prepared with the “Energy Drink” label. According to the filing, Reliance had around 168 million cans and 120 million plastic bottles in finished inventory. In addition, packaging carrying the same description had already been printed for another 400 million cans and 360 million bottles. Reliance also told the court that state authorities had seized some of its stock following the regulatory action. The company further claimed that e-commerce platforms were instructed to remove the products from their listings. According to Reliance, these developments resulted in “substantial disruption” to its business operations. The company also said the action had affected its market presence and commercial goodwill. The scale of the inventory cited in the petition underlines the commercial impact of the labelling dispute, particularly because major quantities of both finished products and pre-printed packaging were already in circulation or production.
