'I love you Rasna'; India's erstwhile soft drink giant is making a comeback

Rasna, the soft drink brand that called the shots in the Indian market during the late 90s is heading for a grand comeback. The news would, in all certainty, give a feeling of lost euphoria to people who had their school days during the 90s and early 2000s. during summers, the holiday would be incomplete if not scampering to common stores and picking up the Rasna packet, available at a meagre price.

The catchy advertisements during those times also hit the right chord of intrigue among the masses. Rasna had claimed that their Rs 5 packet would easily fill up to 32 glasses of soft drinks. ‘I Love You Rasna’ the famous tagline from Rasna ads where ubiquitous in towns till the early 2000s.

However, in the last few years, Rasna has not been marketed in India on a large scale. Piruz Khambatta, the Chairman and Managing Director of Rasna Pvt. Ltd, recently hinted that the soft drink brand was preparing for a comeback in business. Khambatta said the brand will expand operations to one hundred thousand outlets by the end of next year. With the comeback, the company is also targeting growth of 25 to 30 per cent. Rasna being the cheapest beverage globally, the company expects to strengthen export growth in terms of unit price.

Rasna is building a new production plant in Patna, Bihar. The company hopes to produce two million cases per year from here. Piruz Khambatta also clarified that Rasna products will be manufactured using raw materials from India, such as fruits and sugar. He also said Rasna can deal with tax issues more efficiently than countries including China.

The global fruit market was valued at $2.46 billion in 2023. The company expects this to reach $7.27 billion by 2030. It is estimated that this will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 14.50 per cent from 2024 to 2031. But Rasna is also trying to circumvent the new tax system introduced by the United States. After Donald Trump took office as the US President, he introduced many reforms in tax collection.

Although Rasna hopes to make huge profits globally, there are many challenges in the national market as the rural population's disposable income (income excluding current taxes from personal income) has not increased as expected.

This year, summer is early, which observers say will benefit the industry more. However, the main challenge is setting up distribution facilities quickly.