21st Century Media Pvt and DNA Networks, music and cricket consultants of Pepsi, have informed Pepsi that they were approached by top Coke executives who offered hefty financial contracts for switching over from Pepsi. Pepsi has been aggressively sponsoring music and cricket events in the country through DNA and 21st Century, the most recent being the Pepsi Cup triangular series between India, Australia and Zimbabwe.

21st Century Media managing director Lokesh Sharma has also written a similar letter to Pepsi. Sharma has alleged that he had signed an agreement with cricketer Javagal Srinath for endorsing Pepsi soft drinks. Coke, however, lured away Srinath, and Sharma was subsequently approached by Gupta of Coke for holding cricket tournaments sponsored by Coke. Sharma said hewas offered very attractive terms and conditions by Gupta which he rejected as he had an exclusive agreement with Pepsi. The Bangalore-based DNA Networks managing director T Venkat Vardhan said in a letter to Pepsi that Coke's general manager (marketing) Apurvi Seth met him at his office along with some of her colleagues. She offered Coke sponsorship for Channel-V road shows which DNA has been doing exclusively with Pepsi over the last two years. Seth indicated that Coke had a large budget earmarked for music events and wanted DNA to work for the soft-drink multinational. She also offered DNA a hefty monthly retainership in exchange for terminating contract with Pepsi which was turned down. Vardhan said in the letter that he was approached again through Gautam Berry, presently chief executive officer of Amitabh Bachchan Corporation (ABCL) at the instance of Sanjiv Gupta, former CEO of ABCL and currently Coke's marketing director. Vardhan said he was also approached through a close business associate ofCoke.

An Ahmedabad-based Pepsi distributor, who supplies the company's soft drinks to railway, has also accused Coke of offering heavy cash incentives for switching sides. Srinathji Sales has alleged that he was offered Rs 25 lakh plus high contract benefits for terminating his agreement with Pepsi. Goa Bottling Company, a Pepsi bottler, has charged Coke with poaching on its entire sales, marketing and distribution team of about 60 people. The company has alleged that Coke and Britco also lured away its distributors in Goa and Maharashtra.