THERE IS ONE brand that the crores of viewers of the Indian Premier League do not miss whether they watch it at the stadium, on television or on smartphone. The Campa Cola ad pops up at every second or third ad break; it is there on the refrigerator on the ground; and it is there on the jerseys of five teams.
It is probably the biggest comeback by an FMCG brand in India. Campa Cola was popular in the 1970s and 80s; but the advent of Pepsi and Coca-Cola in the 1990s pushed it into oblivion. In August 2022, Reliance Consumer Products, an arm of Reliance Retail, bought the brand from Delhi-based Pure Drinks for around Rs22 crore.
Reliance’s strategy was simple—start a price war. When Coca-Cola and Pepsi were selling at Rs20 for 250ml, Campa offered 500ml for that money; and 200ml for Rs10. It also offered higher margins to its trade partners, nudging them to stock the products more and display them prominently. Dinesh Taluja, chief financial officer of Reliance Retail, said Campa had already gained double-digit share in key markets.
Meanwhile, Reliance has been expanding Campa’s range. A sports drink named Spinner, co-created with former Sri Lankan cricket legend Muthiah Muralidaran, was introduced earlier this year.
Campa is just one of several FMCG brands Relaince acquired in the recent past. Gujarat-based Sosyo Hajoori Beverages, beverages brand Raskik, candy brand Toffeeman, chocolate company Lotus, confectionery brand Ravalgaon, sauces and condiments brand Sil Foods, and shampoo brand Velvette are in its kitty now.
The pattern is clear—acquire legacy brands, invest and scale up distribution, make them competitive with marketing. They augment a bouquet of in-house brands Reliance owns, such as staples brand Independence and detergent brand Enzo, that are also scaling up rapidly. Reliance also has tie-ups with several brands, such as the Sri Lanka-based biscuit maker Maliban.
“Reliance’s strategy of acquiring legacy businesses and forming joint ventures has been an effective way to quickly build scale in a highly competitive sector,” said Milind Sarwate, former chief financial officer of Marico and founder of Increate, an advisory platform. “This approach has allowed them to bypass long gestation periods typically associated with organic FMCG growth. It has also provided them with immediate access to brand equity, operational infrastructure and market-ready products.”
Reliance Retail is the largest retailer in India. Its network of supermarkets and the JioMart e-commerce platform make a formidable distribution platform. And, it is also engaging with the neighbourhood kiranas, offering better margins than traditional distributors, to penetrate the market more aggressively. Taluja said the brands were present in one million retail outlets through a network of 3,200 distributors.
Reliance Consumer Products is among the fastest growing FMCG businesses in India, with Rs11,450 crore in sales in just the second year of its operations. It has surpassed some of the incumbents in the sector and is getting closer to the biggies. For instance, Marico’s full year revenue in 2024-25 was at Rs10,831 crore. And Tata Consumer Products had a standalone revenue of Rs12,802 crore in 2024-25.
“Reliance is leveraging its existing infrastructure and retail ecosystem to create a strong FMCG play,” said Sarwate. Over time, however, Reliance would have to look at value creation through integration and innovation, and it would need to align the diverse brands under a cohesive brand architecture, he added.
The aggressive push, especially in beverages, has forced some of the incumbent players to redraw their strategies. “I think we missed a trick when Reliance came in because we thought they came in at Rs10,” said Sunil D’Souza, managing director and CEO of Tata Consumer Products. Tata’s Gluco+ drink was also priced at Rs10. “But their retail margins were higher than what we had and we didn’t re-index fast enough.”
Mohit Malhotra, CEO of Dabur India, said the nectar segment in the juices category was impacted the most because of the price-driven competitive intensity. Dabur was forced to reduce prices. It is also planning to launch a “relatively economical range” as a part of its game plan to take on colas.
“A brand coming in denting market share of large players, we don’t really see that happening often in FMCG,” said Kunal Vora, head of India equity research at BNP Paribas. “But yes, in certain categories we have started seeing some impact. Incumbents in beverages have been impacted and have had to respond.””
The Ambanis have global ambitions for Reliance Consumer Products and has a game plan ready. “We have also started looking at exports to other markets, and we would start at that, and we would set up distribution in select markets to distribute our products where they have the relevant appeal,” said Taluja.
Reliance Retail reported a net profit of Rs12,388 crore last financial year, up 11.3 per cent from a year before that. Its revenue was close to Rs2.91 lakh crore in 2024-25, up 6.6 per cent. It is the Reliance group’s biggest business after oil. It could dominate retail business at all levels, said Govind Shrikhande, a retail industry veteran and the former managing director of Shoppers’ Stop.
The core retail business of Reliance has seen some restructuring of late. The company opened 2,659 stores last year, but its net addition was just about 500 outlets, as it shut down some 2,000 stores. In fact, its total area operated came down to around 77.4 million square feet from 79.1 million square feet between March 2024 and March 2025.
“We have seen store closures, but it is because of a variety of reasons,” said Gaurav Jain, head of strategy and business development at Reliance Retail. “Some stores might have been shifted because the trade areas or the consumer preferences changing. Some stores were not performing well because the mall itself was not performing well. So it is a function of a variety of reasons for both fashion and grocery businesses.”
Reliance is repositioning its fashion lifestyle chain Trends, targeting younger and family consumers. “We are renovating our stores to upgrade them to have the latest technology. And also support that with better in-store experience, not just in terms of technology, but in terms of number of options,” said Taluja.
While its brick-and-mortar stores are being streamlined, Reliance’s digital fashion platform, Ajio is also gaining scale. “Our focus continues to be bringing exclusive and external brands that can get the customer pull and drive traffic to the platform,” said Taluja.
Over the years, Reliance Retail has built a big basket of brands across price segments. It now has close to 800 brands on Ajio Luxe, its platform for premium and luxury brands. India’s shopping malls and high streets are dotted with fashion and lifestyle brands Reliance owns or has partnered with. Burberry, Clarks, Diesel, Gas, Giorgio Armani, Marks & Spencer, Muji, Mothercare, Steve Madden, Tiffany & Co, Tod’s, Michael Kors, Paul Smith, Satya Paul, Tira, Ritu Kumar, Raghavendra Rathore, Manish Malhotra and Abu Jani Sandeep Khosla are all part of Reliance Brands.
“It is a massive portfolio,” said Vora of BNP Paribas. “The strategy seems to be doing more brands, private labels as well as foreign brands. They want to have more control instead of just selling products from third party. This is also margin accretive. That’s the direction they are moving towards.”
Another ace up its sleeve is the Chinese fashion brand Shein, which has disrupted the global fast fashion industry with low prices and high-speed production cycles. India had banned Shein over data security issues after border tensions between the two countries escalated in 2020. Reliance Retail recently launched Shein on Ajio.
Fast fashion has seen massive growth in India over the past few years, thanks to brands like Zara, H&M and Tata’s Zudio. India’s fast fashion market was estimated to be around $10 billion in 2023-24. Redseer Strategic Consultants sees massive opportunity for this market to grow and estimates it to be $50 billion by 2031.
Ajio faces intense competition from the likes of Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Nykaa and Meesho. While the addition of a global fast fashion giant like Shein could help Reliance accelerate growth, the rivals are not too worried about it. “The market is very wide and no one brand can dominate it,” said Falguni Nayar, executive chairperson of FSN E-commerce Ventures, the parent company of Nykaa.
Fast fashion is all about quickly identifying trends and getting the product in stores. Supply chain would be an issue here for Shein, said Shrikhande. “The products sold on Shein’s India platform will be made locally,” he said. “But, we are not as competitive as China. So, we will have to wait and see how Shein pans out in India.”
But there are many factors that are working well for Reliance. “In retail, you have to ensure there is a lively mix of brands,” said Shrikhande. “Reliance has an advantage here because many of the brands it has are exclusive.” The Ambanis clearly are betting on that.