Coca Cola's Bottling Arm HCCB To Reportedly Layoff Around 300 Employees

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), the bottling arm of Coca-Cola India, is set to layoff about 300 employees as part of an internal restructuring exercise aimed at improving profitability and streamlining operations, The Economic Times reported.

The job cuts, announced internally over the past fortnight, will impact roughly 4–6% of HCCB’s workforce of nearly 5,000 employees, according to people familiar with the matter cited by The Economic Times. The downsizing spans multiple functions, including sales, supply chain, distribution, and bottling operations at manufacturing plants.

In a statement quoted by The Economic Times, a spokesperson for Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages said the move was part of a routine review of business operations. "Staying in sync with evolving business needs requires us to re-evaluate capabilities, structures, and take corrective actions where necessary," the spokesperson told ET, adding that the exercise is 'minor in scale and non-disruptive to operations.'

HCCB operates 15 manufacturing facilities across India and bottles and distributes several of Coca-Cola’s marquee brands, including Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Minute Maid and Kinley.

The restructuring follows a sharp decline in financial performance in FY25. The company attributed the decline largely to a higher base in FY24, when it sold bottling operations in several regions to franchise partners, as per The Economic Times report.

Over the past year, HCCB divested bottling operations in Rajasthan, Bihar, the North-East and parts of West Bengal to existing bottlers including Moon Beverages, Kandhari Global Beverages and SLMG Beverages.

Under Coca-Cola’s operating model, the company supplies beverage concentrate to bottlers, who manufacture and distribute finished products in their respective territories.

Demand conditions have also been challenging. According to The Economic Times, unseasonal and heavy rainfall during the peak summer months dampened beverage consumption, during what is typically the strongest sales period for the industry.

The workforce rationalisation comes months after a leadership transition at HCCB. In July, the company appointed Hemant Rupani, formerly of Mondelez International, as chief executive officer, succeeding Juan Pablo Rodriguez.