Coca-Cola was driven out of India once, Did you know that?

Coca-Cola was forced to leave India in the 70s. The government had declared a national emergency in 1975 and former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was removed from office, replaced by the Morarji Desai government in 1977. The ‘70s in India were quite chaotic.

While all of this was happening, foreign companies who conducted business in India were making a lot of money with the rise of the middle class and consumerism. However, instead of the profits being reinvested into projects and expansion in India, they were being shipped back to the home country of these companies. This caused a drain of wealth from India, and was one of the reasons why India’s economy at the time wasn’t doing too well.

To combat this, the government created new laws that made it compulsory for foreign companies to reduce their ownership to 40 per cent and have 60 per cent ownership by an Indian company to conduct business on Indian soil.

For the Cola giant, sharing profits wasn’t an issue considering the scale of business. But the fact that the secret recipe for Coca-Cola would have to be shared with another partner didn’t sit right with the company. So naturally, they left.

With the MNC leaving, thousands of employees were left stranded. So to meet the demand for cola and re-employ the people left behind after Coca-Cola’s exit, the government created its own Coca-Cola clone called ‘Double Seven’, in honour of the year the new ruling party took over.

The ‘Sarkari Cola’ however was a failure, but a slew of other cola brands such as Campa Cola, Duke’s, McDowell’s Crush and Double Cola began gaining prominence. Thums Up was also one of them, and became the homegrown brand that filled the void left after Coke’s exit.

With the liberalisation of the Indian economy in 1991, Coca Cola re-entered the Indian market and acquired Thums Up in 1993, the same brand which took its place in the hearts of Indian consumers.

The Company then cut all of Thums Up’s advertising so people would begin opting for its flagship brand Coca-Cola once again. But interestingly, consumers began opting for Pepsi, Coke’s biggest competitor. Upon realising this, the Coca-Cola Company decided to position Thums Up as a direct competitor to Pepsi instead and resumed advertising it as a drink for grown ups.

Thums Up ads were targeted at those over the age of 25 years, as a drink for a mature audience with a stronger fizz and spicier flavour as compared to the sweetness of Pepsi.

Coca-Cola ads on the other hand were targeted to people between ages 12 and 25, and that’s how Coca-Cola left and made a comeback in India.

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