Indian sports drink market led by Lucozade and Gatorade

Retail value sales within the Indian sports drink market increased by 17% in 2012, reaching a value of Rs5 billion.

This growth was marginally lower than the growth of 18% in 2011. This growth was dampened due to increasing awareness of the side-effects of energy drinks.

In June 2012 the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) announced that energy drinks will be renamed as "caffeinated beverages". The permissible limit of caffeine in carbonated beverages according to FSSAI is 145 parts per million. Brands, such as Red Bull and Burn, surpass this limit. Hence according to FSSAI they should be named as caffeinated beverages.

Growing interest in attending gyms and keeping fit is supporting demand for sports drinks in the country. The majority of sales are from energy drinks which are growing due to changes in consumer lifestyles, especially in metros and mini-metros. Long erratic working hours and changing consumer lifestyles are some of the factors leading to volume growth of energy drinks.

The key consumer groups of sports and energy drinks are people who exercise and work-orientated young generations in India. While products in sports drinks are seen as an important complement to outdoor exercise, products within energy drinks are popularised as essential for parties and useful to sustain an active lifestyle.

Red Bull enjoyed a large lead over its competitors to record a 72% off-trade value share within sports and energy drinks in 2012. PepsiCo ranked second registering an 11% off-trade value share.

Due to the regulatory changes in sports and energy drinks in the country in 2012, category leader Red Bull, was not allowed to sell its Tamil Nadu brand during the year, which was one of the reasons for the decline in Red Bull's volume sales in 2012.

In terms of individual categories, the Red Bull brand held an 86% off-trade value share in energy drinks while Gatorade dominatedsports drinks with an 82% share in 2012.

Cloud 9,Tzinga and Burn, from Goldwin Healthcare, Hector Beverages and Coca-Cola respectively, are the other notable brands in energy drinks while Lucozade Isotonic Drink and 100 Plus Isotonic Drink from GlaxoSmithKline and ATC Beverages, respectively, were the only significant competitors to Gatorade in sports drinks.

For more information on the Indian sports drink market, see the latest research: Indian Sports Drink Market

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