Bottled Soft Drinks segment has achieved its highest in-home penetration in the March-May period this year with rural consumption outpacing urban in line with the broader FMCG trends. As per data sourced from Worldpanel by Numerator, the bottled soft drinks category, which includes carbonated drinks, mango-based drinks and juices, saw its in-home penetration grow to 44.1 per cent. The insights and market research firm said that all of the categories within the bottled soft drinks witnessed growth during this summer season.
K Ramakrishnan, MD- South Asia, Worldpanel by Numerator told businessline, that the category has seen significant evolution in the post-pandemic era. “Bottled soft drinks category registered a penetration of 44.1 per cent in the March to May 2026 period. This is the highest in-home penetration that the category has ever achieved. In the corresponding period in 2025, the penetration stood at 42 per cent . This growth has led to a 9.3 per cent volume growth continuing the expansion of the category.”
The rise in volume growth came even as unseasonal rains and delayed onset of summer season was seen in various parts of the country. The data are based on the Household Panel data which measures the purchase of in-home FMCG categories.
He added that one of the notable changes has been the growth witnessed in rural regions. “In the March – May period of 2022, the gap between Urban penetration and Rural penetration was 9.4 per cent. In the 2026 period this gap was just 1.6 per cent indicating the progress the category has seen in the rural market in just the last four years.” The insight firm also said that the growth in the urban region is higher than rural region.
Leading beverage brands have indicated that they witnessed strong growth in the first half of the year.
On Tuesday, Varun Beverages, the leading bottler of PepsiCo, said that in India it saw “healthy volume growth in twenties since the onset of season from March onwards except for the month of April which was about flat resulting in overall volume growth for the June quarter of 14.4 per cent.”
Published on July 28, 2026
