6 days ago
India beats Romania to become a top-performing market for Hell Energy drink after Hungary
India has become the top-performing market, in terms of exports, for
Hell Energy drink
after beating Romania, however, Hungary continues to hold the top spot, Unnikannan Gangadharan, director, Hell Energy, told ETRetail.
The company treats Hungary as a separate unit and all other countries as one separate unit.
"India is an important market for the brand as the country is dominated by youth who are betting big on the cold functional beverages," he said.
"In terms of value, we hold almost 10-12 per cent of the energy drink category in India, which includes both aluminium cans and PET bottles," he further added.
Apart from this, the brand is also aiming to increase its sourcing from India up to 50 per cent by 2027. Currently, it stands at 20 per cent.
"Over the next 3 years, India will become a major supplier for Hell Energy India's business. So, it will further give us the cost advantage and shelf-life advantage," he asserted.
At present, the brand works with more than 3,000 distributors across the country and plans to consolidate it in the bigger cities and expand in the cities where it has little or no presence.
The energy drink brand, which is strengthening its presence in the e-commerce and q-commerce space in FY 25, is targeting to penetrate deeper into tier IV as well as rural markets of the country in FY 26.
Currently, 5-6 per cent of the revenue of the brand comes from online channels.
In India, the brand offers 3 variants - Classic, Watermelon, and Apple, whereas globally it offers 25 SKUs.
"Going ahead, we are planning to introduce more SKUs in India, considering the flavours that have the potential to appeal to the Indian palate. We are also exploring bringing in the sugar-free variants," he stated.
Last fiscal, the brand grew at around 30-35 per cent in India, and this fiscal year, it expects the growth to come from the increasing CAN saliency in the Indian market.
"In India, during the first quarter of FY 26, 15 per cent of the revenue was contributed by the sale of CAN, and the remaining 85 per cent came from the sale of PET bottles. Last year, it stood at 12 per cent," he said.
Globally, the brand has a presence in more than 60 countries, and it plans to expand further in the USA, Africa, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka, to name a few.
