Coca-Cola's revenue declines in Asia Pacific in Q4, will continue to invest in India

New Delhi (PTI): Global beverages major The Coca-Cola Company witnessed a decline in revenue and profit in the Asia Pacific market, which includes India, in the fourth quarter of 2025.

However, the leadership in the earnings call said it is hopeful of growth in India, which the company sees as "market of the future", where it will continue to make investments ahead of the curve along with its bottling partners.

Its net operating revenue in Asia Pacific was down 7 per cent to USD 1.13 billion.

Though in Asia Pacific " we gained better share and had flat volume. revenue and profit declined during the quarter," said the Coca-Cola Company CEO-Elect Henrique Braun in the investors' call on Tuesday.

However, he also said India is a long-term contributor to volume growth, where it will continue to make investments.

In India, Coca-Cola, along with other beverage players, has to bear the impact of seasonality-related issues such as rain and others, which affected its business.

India is the fifth-largest market for the company.

"India is a long-term contributor of volume growth, but that needs to be built back, and we would expect that to ramp up during the year. Similarly, China was a little weaker in the fourth quarter than it had been during the year, and we are looking to see that build back up through the year," said its Chairman and CEO James Quincey, who was also on the call.

Replying to a query, Braun, who will be taking over as CEO from March 31, 2026, said last year Coca-Cola had impact in India market but will continue to invest ahead of curve.

"With India, we had last year different impacts from industry dynamics, weather. It was a market that we continue to invest also ahead of the curve, and we believe that we can get back on track in 2026," he said.

He stated India was a market that would be a long-term contributor to overall volume growth.

"The level of investment that we had on new lines needed that has been unprecedented," said Braun, who will take over the position of CEO on March 31.

The Coca-Cola company will continue to invest because India is a "market for the future".

"We are still building the industry there and that's why we need to continue to invest ahead of the curve, because it's more on the model that building will come, right? Because really, on this market ... you can actually continue to push forward. Digital, it's part of this," he said.

Braun mentioned that Coca-Cola is also focusing on engaging with the consumer through data tech and AI, and has also developed a platform, Coke Buddy, which is a self-ordering platform for retailers.

"We are still at one fourth of the entire outlet base that we can reach in India. But we think that we are already deploying digital ordering, AI, and genetic AI to determine the next best SKU. And the next phase of that growth will be an end-to-end digital platform that will connect not only the consumer, the customers, but the experiences to translate that engagement into transaction," he said.

So India, for those reasons, is a market that from that space, it's going to continue to be ahead of the pack as well.

Coca-Cola, in its fourth quarter earnings release, said in terms of performance of bottling investments, which refer to company-owned bottling operations, unit case volume declined 6 per cent for the quarter, largely due to a decline in India and the impact of refranchising bottling operations.