Remembering Emergency: When India banned Coke and brewed nationalism in a bottle called Double Seven

Economic Times

4 hours ago

Reuters A Coca Cola logo is pictured in Brussels, Belgium March 4, 2024.
In the summer of 1977, just after the 21-month Emergency ended and India turned the page on nearly three decades of uninterrupted Congress rule, a new political force was not the only thing bubbling to the surface.The newly elected Janata Party government had shown the door to Coca-Cola and unveiled its own fizzy response -- Double Seven. The country's first "sarkari cola" was launched as a symbol of economic self-reliance and political change.Named after the landmark year that brought the Morarji Desai-led Janata coalition to power, Double Seven was more than a beverage; it was a political statement in a bottle. The indigenous cola had an elaborate launch at the annual trade fair at Pragati Maidan.
The Double Seven cola, popularly known as "Satattar" (77 in Hindi) was manufactured and marketed by the makers of Modern breads - Modern Food Industries - a government-owned company. Interestingly, then MP H V Kamath was also awarded a cash prize for coming up with the name "77".
Although "77" was not ready for sale until 1978, the name was chosen because 1977 was the year of big changes in India -- such as the end of the Indira Gandhi government and Coca-Cola.At the helm of affairs in the cola episode was then Industry Minister George Fernandes, who decided to throw Coke as well as IBM out of India over their refusal to follow the provisions of what was then the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act.Rahul Ramagundam wrote in Fernandes' biography "Life and Times of George Fernandes" that the provision stipulated that foreign companies should dilute their equity stake in their Indian associates to 60 per cent.Fernandes wanted Coca-Cola Company to not just transfer 60 per cent of the shares of its Indian firm but also the formula for its concentrate to Indian shareholders. The company said it was agreeable to transferring a majority of the shares but not the formula, which it contended was a trade secret.The company exited the Indian market as the government denied a licence to import the Coke concentrate. Fernandes then introduced the indigenous drink "77".The government asked the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI) in Mysuru to develop the formula.Sold with the tagline "The Taste that Tingles", the cola did not strike the same chord with the public as Coca-Cola, amid tough competition from brands like Campa Cola, Thums Up, and Duke."I remember the launch of Double Seven at the annual trade fair at Pragati Maidan, a proud gift from the Janata Party, an indigenous drink supposedly superior than Coca-Cola and a stark reminder of Indira Gandhi's humiliating defeat in the recent general elections," author Sunil Lala says in his book "American Khichdi", published in 2009.Tata McGraw Hill's book "Advertising Management: Concepts and Cases" also mentions Double Seven as an example of government branding and "swadeshi" marketing gone awry.Hill cited the launch of Double Seven as a business school case study in government-backed branding, highlighting the campaign's missteps and beverage-market context of the late 1970s.The end of Double Seven, not so surprisingly, coincided with Indira Gandhi reclaiming power in 1980.Coca-Cola made a comeback in October 1993, post-liberalisation of the Indian market by the P V Narasimha Rao government and has maintained a strong presence ever since.Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has also referred to the episode in his book "India: From Midnight to the Millennium and Beyond"."Heedless to the signal these exits sent to the world - whose brief hopes that a change of government might have led to a more welcoming investment climate were poured down the same drain as the Coke - the Janata ministers chose to celebrate the departures of these multinationals as a further triumph for socialism and anti-imperialistic self-reliance," Tharoor wrote in the book.The Emergency was imposed 50 years ago on June 25, 1975, by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi.
Triggered by political unrest and a court verdict invalidating Gandhi's election, the Emergency suspended civil liberties, censored the press and saw mass arrests of opposition leaders.