Coke released these figures at a meeting held at its Atlanta headquarters last week. The meeting, a pow-wow session between the company's senior executives and independent financial analysts, was chaired by Coca-Cola chief executive officer (CEO) Douglas M Ivester.

Coca-Cola's sales worldwide in 200 countries recorded a growth of 10 per cent in 1998. The average growth for the Asian region was between 7 per cent and 8 per cent.

Coke attributed the sales growth in the country to an increase in retail outlets coupled with aggressive marketing. "The planks which we used to push volumes are strong distribution backed by an advertising strategy which connected with the consumer,"said Coca-Cola India vice-president (operations), Atul Singh. Coke increased its retail outlets from 4 lakh to 6 lakh this year.

The sales growth is reflected in the strong performance of the individual Coke brands in India. The various Coke-owned brands grew as follows: Fanta (70 per cent), Limca (53 per cent) and Thums Up (35 per cent). Coke sales recorded a 48 per cent growth in volume terms in 1998. Coke is the market leader in soft drinks in India, with a 57 per cent market share. The company expects that the soft-drinks market will record an overall growth of more than 20 per cent in 1998.

The soft-drinks industry did not fare well last year owing to a truckers' strike at the beginning of the peak summer season and high excise rates.

Demand this year is expected to pick up due to the searing summer season. The industry is expecting a take-off in home consumption and consumption in non-metro cities. An ORG survey on the soft-drinks industry for January-April 1998 lists Coke's market share invarious cities.

The `real thing' has a 48.2 per cent market share in Mumbai and a 48.4 per cent share in Delhi. Its market share in other cities are: Calcutta (68.3 per cent), Chennai (48.5 per cent), Bangalore (50.6 per cent), Vishakhapatnam (57.7 per cent), Hyderabad (78.1 per cent) and Ludhiana (74.4 per cent).