April 22, 2025 – Soft drinks play a vital role in India’s food and beverage market, offering refreshment, excitement, and indulgence. Their versatility makes them ideal for social gatherings, celebrations, or everyday enjoyment, appealing to a wide range of preferences and age groups. Innova’s 360 research into soft drink trends in India highlights consumer preferences, innovative product launches, and emerging flavors that cater to the country’s diverse palate.
Soft Drinks Market Trends
The soft drinks market in India shows steady growth in value and volume and is forecast to slightly ease in pace through to 2027. Shifting demographics, rising income levels, and the tropical climate drive this growth. Within soft drinks subcategories, bottled water and juice show the highest growth, driven by safety and health priorities. Carbonated beverages and iced tea are other notable subcategories displaying significant growth. Despite this, the cost and cultural preference for traditional drinks limits per capita soft drink consumption in India. Low income, preferring natural or healthy beverage, and seasonal consumption are other limitations to the consumption of soft drinks in India.
Consumer Soft Drinks Preferences
Consumers in India have increasingly consumed juices, juice drinks and smoothies over the past year. The perceived healthiness and regions’ leading harvest of fruits, including mangoes, oranges, bananas, and guavas, make these drinks affordable and readily accessible. Soft drinks trends show that energy drinks have also grown significantly during this period, driven by consumers’ lifestyles and job patterns.
The consumption of soft drinks has increased across subcategories, which include bottled water, iced coffee, iced tea, juice drinks, smoothies, energy drinks, and carbonated beverages. Perceived healthiness is the top driver for the rise in consumption, followed by lifestyle changes, taste preferences, variety, novelty, and environmental responsibility.
Soft drinks trends reveal that bottled water is frequently consumed for hydration at least three times a week. While flavored, low-calorie beverages, such as lemon, coconut, and mint water, are consumed weekly.
Claims and Labels
In India, consumers’ top purchasing claims include ‘product safety’, ‘organic’, ‘no artificial flavors or colors’, and ‘vitamin/mineral fortified’. Regarding water, essential for hydration in India’s subtropical climate, consumers prioritize product safety. Purity-related assurance with clean labels strongly influences the purchasing decision. Clean labels vary across subcategories. For example, influential claims for iced coffee and tea include product safety, organic attributes, and natural or real ingredients, while energy drinks claim include vitamin/mineral fortified, organic, and product safety. Similar claims are observed for juices, sparkling juices, and soda/carbonated soft drinks in India.
New Product Launch Trends
Soft drink launches in India have grown consistently for two years and shown sustained growth over the past three years. The fastest growing subcategories include drink concentrates and mixed, carbonated beverages, iced tea, and iced coffee. This rise in consumption is attributed to the growing variety of flavors in the Indian soft drinks market. This broader appeal aligns with Innova’s top food trend “Wildly Inventive”. This trend highlights the craving for extraordinary experiences, driving companies to create surprising mash-ups and flavors that attract and delight.
Launches with reduced sugar or calorie claims have slowed down over the past year. Meanwhile, products with digestive claims increased in launches during the same period. Consumers seeking products that boost their digestion/gut health aligns with another Innova’s trend “Gut Health: Flourish from Within,” which highlights growing awareness of the microbiome, creating space for ingredients like fiber.
What’s Next in Soft Drinks Trends?
Soft drinks consumption continues to grow, but consumer preferences and expectations change consistently. Soft drinks subcategories offer unique opportunities to cater to varied demands, from better-for-you options to indulgent treats. Targeted marketing and innovative formulations play critical roles in driving growth.
Soft drinks brands can explore opportunities to enhance claims like ‘no artificial’ and ‘made with real ingredients,’ as these influence a significant portion of consumers. While vegetarian claims dominate product introductions, their impact on purchasing decisions appears limited, possibly due to the assumption that soft drinks are inherently vegetarian. Brands can highlight clean labels and safety assurances to build trust.
Fortifying juices and sparkling juices with vitamins and minerals can help meet consumer expectations for healthier beverages. Low sugar and caffeine-free options in sodas can address perceptions of unhealthiness, while premium and indulgent flavors can attract consumers with higher disposable incomes. Health-conscious lifestyle shifts, and the increasing importance of product claims influence the soft drinks market in India. Brands offering products that meet this demand are likely to succeed in the market.
This article is based on Innova’s Soft Drinks in India report. This report is available to purchase or with an Innova Reports subscription. Reach out to find out more
