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Release
August 2026 · rev 1
Opportunities PMS · Published
As at 31 Aug 2026 · IST₹ · ₹ cr · BSE 500 TRI
Present
Internal working platform. Published figures are extracted from the August 2026 source package and reviewed; reference prices and fundamentals are unlicensed working data, not for redistribution. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.
Company Atlas/FMCG/Varun Beverages
NSE: VBL· FMCGNot in Aug top-30Large cap

Varun Beverages

Rural distribution + Africa

Last close
₹430.00
29 Sept 2026 · reference
1D · 1M
0.0% · +3.9%
price-only
Weight
1.0%
31 Jul 2026 · Aug rank —
Thesis review
8 Sep 2026
Why We Own, p35
Coverage owner: Research (per book); latest results Q Jun-26Buoyant AIF I Top 30 Holdings - Aug 2026.pdf · p1Buoyant_Why_We_Own_What_We_Own_Sep2026.pdf (portfolio as of 31 July 2026) · p35Screener ↗Tijori ↗NSE ↗
OverviewBusiness & segmentsChartsFinancialsValuationThesisRisks & catalystsCompetitorsResearch & documents
What the company does

Varun Beverages · Beverages - Non-Alcoholic

Varun Beveragestogether with its subsidiaries a joint venture and associates is engaged in manufacturing, selling, bottling and distribution of beverages of Pepsi brand in geographically pre-defined territories of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Zambia, Morocco, Zimbabwe, RDC, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia and Botswana as per franchisee agreement with PepsiCo India Holdings Private Limited (PepsiCo India) and its affiliates. The sale of the company’s products is seasonal.

Full profile (Yahoo)

Varun Beverages Limited, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, bottles, sells, and distributes beverages under the PepsiCo brands in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Zambia, Morocco, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mozambique, South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, Namibia, and Botswana. The company offers carbonated soft drinks under the Pepsi, Pepsi Zero, Mountain Dew, Mirinda, and Seven-Up brands, as well as the Refreshhh, Coo-ee, and Jive brands; fruit pulp and juice-based drinks under the Slice, Tropicana, Tropicana Delight, and Seven-Up Nimbooz brands; club sodas under the Evervess and Duke's brands; and energy drinks under the Sting, Adrenaline Rush, and Rockstar brands. It also provides sports drinks under the Gatorade brand; carbonated juice-based drinks under the Seven-Up Nimbooz Masala Soda brand; ice-tea under the Lipton brand; packaged drinking water under the Aquafina and Aquavess brands, as well as the Refreshhh and Aquaclear brands; and snacks under the FritoLay, Cheetos, Doritos, Simba, and Kurkure brands. In addition, the company offers energy drinks under the Reboost Energy brand; and value-added dairy-based beverages under the Cream Bell brand. Varun Beverages Limited was incorporated in 1995 and is based in Gurugram, India.

Sector (Yahoo)
Consumer Defensive
Industry (Yahoo)
Beverages - Non-Alcoholic
Employees
10,654
Website
varunbeverages.com

Key people: Mr. Varun Ravi Kant Jaipuria (Executive Vice Chairman) · Mr. Pankaj Madan (Chief Financial Officer) · Mr. Ravi Batra (Chief Risk Officer, Compliance Officer & Group Company Secretary) · Mr. Raj Pal Gandhi F.C.A. (Whole-Time Director) · Mr. Rajinder Jeet Singh Bagga (Whole-Time Director) · Mr. Rajesh Chawla (Chief Financial Officer of India)

Who are the competitors of Varun Beverages?

Varun Beverages major competitors are ITC, Nestle India, Britannia Industries, Godrej Consumer Prod, Dabur India, P&G Hygiene & Health. Market Cap of Varun Beverages is ₹1,43,959 Crs. While the median market cap of its peers are ₹1,04,601 Crs.

Is Varun Beverages financially stable compared to its competitors?

Varun Beverages seems to be less financially stable compared to its competitors.Altman Z score of Varun Beverages is 12.78 and is ranked 4 out of its 7 competitors.

Snapshot and what to watch · Tijori · 18 Sep 2026
  • Varun Beverages is PepsiCo's franchise bottler in India and Africa. It sells carbonated drinks plus energy drinks, juices, hydration, dairy and snacks.
  • Profit comes from carbonated drinks in India at about 65% of volume. Africa and hydration drinks drive growth including the energy drink STING.
  • Franchise rights run to April 2049 with expansion limits removed. Per management, it avoids the ₹10 fight to protect profitable growth above 20%.
  • It is building a carbonated-drinks line in Kenya and adding dairy, juices and snacks. Alcoholic drinks and a Tunisia venture are board-approved and await approvals.
  • The India business is net cash. Group debt is only from acquisitions. That leaves room to fund new plants and deals.
  • Near-term profit rests on weather-driven India volumes and Africa ramp absorbing acquisition mix. Management guides ~21% EBITDA margin for CY2026.
  • It depends on a single franchisor for its core drinks. It faces a food-label issue for its energy drink STING.

Yahoo profile 23 Sept 2026 · Tijori 23 Sept 2026

Segments

Revenue mix and market share

Product Wise Break-Up
  • Carbonated Soft Drinks75.0%
  • Packaged Drinking Water18.0%
  • Non-Carbonated Beverages7.0%
Location Wise Break-Up
  • India67.0%
  • Rest of the World31.6%
  • Others1.4%
Brand Wise Break-Up
  • Mountain Dew47.0%
  • Pepsi22.0%
  • Mirinda17.0%
  • Seven-Up10.0%
  • Others4.0%

Latest reported mix as compiled by Tijori from company disclosures; percentages of revenue.

Operating metrics

Company-reported KPIs (Tijori) · latest quarter

As the company reports them. They can differ from the ratio table on the Financials tab, which uses Tijori's own definitions (for example NIM on average total assets rather than on interest-earning assets); the Cross-check panel there lines both up.

Quarterly Sales Volume - Beverage Cases466.7 Mn Cases 2026-06
Realization Per Case181.08 Rs 2026-06
Business model

How the company earns

World's second-largest PepsiCo franchise bottler (outside the US) producing and distributing Pepsi, 7Up, Mountain Dew, Sting, Tropicana, Aquafina etc. across India (~90% of PepsiCo India beverage volumes) and 10+ international markets (Nepal, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, DRC, South Africa via BevCo and the 2026 Twizza acquisition, Ghana, Tanzania). Sold 466.7 mn cases in Q2CY26 alone; CY25 revenue Rs 21,685 cr, EBITDA margin ~23%; India is net-debt-free. Adjacent snacks manufacturing for PepsiCo in Morocco/Zimbabwe and value-added dairy are new legs. Market share vs Coca-Cola/Campa not quantified in sources used.

Economics and valuation note (book)

Stock -14% over one year (screener) but 5-yr price CAGR 27%; at 40.6x trailing it is below the 55-70x it commanded in 2023-24 during the 30%+ volume-growth phase; 10-yr profit CAGR 40% vs 5-yr 50%. EV/EBITDA 26.1x; dividend yield 0.4%.

Competitive position · why this and not peers
Nestle IndiaNestle trades at 72.7x trailing vs VBL 40.6x; VBL delivers ~20% volume growth vs Nestle's high-single-digit volume, and although Nestle's ROE (74%) is far higher, VBL's incremental capex earns 20%+ ROCE and its 10-yr profit CAGR (40%) is multiples of Nestle's.
Tata Consumer ProductsTCPL trades at 60.9x with ROE of only 7.4% and ROCE 9.2% (goodwill-heavy after Capital Foods/Organic India deals) and promoter holding 33.8%; VBL has 3x the ROE (20%) at two-thirds the multiple and 59% promoter skin in the game.
Segment economics

Reported revenue mix

Product Wise Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • Carbonated Soft Drinks
    75.0%
  • Packaged Drinking Water
    18.0%
  • Non-Carbonated Beverages
    7.0%
  • Fruit Pulp/Juice-Based Drinks-
    0.0%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Location Wise Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • India
    67.0%
  • Rest of the World
    31.6%
  • Others
    1.4%
  • Nepal
    0.0%
  • Sri Lanka
    0.0%
  • Morocco
    0.0%
  • Zambia
    0.0%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Brand Wise Break-Up

share of revenue, %
  • Mountain Dew
    47.0%
  • Pepsi
    22.0%
  • Mirinda
    17.0%
  • Seven-Up
    10.0%
  • Others
    4.0%

Share of revenue as disclosed in filings (Tijori normalisation). Segment profit measure: not disclosed in this source — segment EBIT/EBITDA/PBT are not shown rather than estimated. Eliminations and unallocated costs not available here.

Industry cycle

FMCG chapter

FMCG — 9.5%: the main stake, for the first time in ten years

Every era in Indian markets has a sector nobody wants right before it becomes the main stake. Post-COVID, demonetisation, GST and a capex-first fiscal stance took money out of household hands and consumption went into a five-year hiatus. Starting in 2024 the wheel turned: states began putting money directly into households — women-centric cash transfers alone run at ~₹1.7 lakh crore a year across fifteen-plus states and 120 million beneficiaries, and our aggregate estimate of the welfare shift is close to ₹6 lakh crore, or 1.7% of GDP. Add GST 2.0 (September 2025 moved soaps, toothpaste, biscuits, noodles, apparel under ₹2,500 to the 5% slab), 125 bp of rate cuts and a normal monsoon, and the income impulse is real. The evidence is arriving: ex-cigarette staples volumes are at a two-year high, rural volumes have out-grown urban for seven straight quarters, and we expect a broad set of companies to print double-digit growth this year. The setup mirrors 2021 in reverse. Then, consumption's fundamentals were eroding but investors would not let go of the multiples. Today the money has moved but nobody is looking — HUL is down from ₹2,250 to ₹1,960, Britannia −17% and Trent −23% over a year, Varun −14%. We are buying the operating leverage of a volume recovery in franchises whose multiples have compressed to 40–50x from 55–70x. The sales point is not "India has a large population"; it is that a cash-flow transfer the size of the IT salary bill has already happened.

Datapoints the team can quote
  • State women-centric cash transfers: 15+ states, ~120 mn beneficiaries, ~₹1.7 lakh cr/yr in FY26; Maharashtra recipients raised monthly spending 46% — Economic Survey 2026; Business Standard, Jul-2026
  • Buoyant estimate of total welfare transfer to households ≈ ₹6 lakh cr (1.7% of GDP), analysed across 16 state budgets — Buoyant Perspectives, Aug-2026
  • GST 2.0 (22-Sep-2025): ~60% of the FMCG basket repriced; soaps, toothpaste, biscuits to 5%; apparel/footwear up to ₹2,500 to 5% — NIQ; Business Standard
  • Rural volume growth out-paced urban for seven consecutive quarters to Sep-2025 (rural +7.7% vs urban +3.7%); FMCG value growth 7.8% in Oct–Dec 2025 — NIQ
  • Quick commerce is >75% of e-commerce FMCG sales; e-commerce is 14% of metro FMCG sales — the channel shift favours scaled brands — NIQ, Oct–Dec 2025
What we deliberately do not own

Nestlé India is a superb business at 60x+ with the least GST benefit and the slowest volume growth of the group; ITC is cigarettes-led (we specifically exclude cigarettes from the volume thesis) and now a hotels demerger story; Dabur and Godrej Consumer have weaker execution and portfolio issues (honey/chyawanprash seasonality; GCPL's African drag). Marico is a copra-cost story, not a volume story. Tata Consumer pays 60x for tea. In discretionary, V-Mart and ABFRL lack Trent's unit economics and balance sheet, and Shoppers Stop is the wrong price point for a transfer-led recovery.

Market position

Market share (where tracked)

Pepsi Beverage Production Market Share in Morocco10 %as of Mar 20
Pepsi Beverage Production Market Share in Nepal45 %as of Mar 20
Pepsi Beverage Production Market Share in North & East India40 %as of Mar 19
Pepsi Beverage Production Market Share in South & West India25 %as of Mar 19
Pepsi Beverage Production Market Share in Sri Lanka18 %as of Mar 20
Sector datapoints

From the one-pager

  • GST 2.0 (22-Sep-2025) kept aerated drinks at the 40% 'sin/luxury' slab (28%+12% cess replaced by 40%) - no rate benefit for CSDs, unlike biscuits/toothpaste moved to 5%; juices/dairy-based drinks are in lower slabs (Business Standard 5-Sep-2025…
  • NIQ: food volume growth (+2.8%) outpaced HPC (+1.9%) in Oct-Dec 2025; rural volume +2.9% vs urban +2.3%; rural led urban for seven straight quarters to Sep-2025 - VBL's outlet expansion is skewed to rural/semi-urban.
  • Competition: Reliance's Campa is pursuing an aggressive Rs 10 price-point strategy; VBL management says the Rs 10 pack is non-profitable and it will not chase it (Q2CY26 call, Jul-2026).
  • Quick commerce is over three-fourths of e-commerce FMCG sales and e-com is 14% of metro FMCG sales (NIQ, Oct-Dec 2025) - a new impulse-beverage channel where VBL added coolers and SKUs.