7Up Becomes First Fizzy Drink in India to use the Stevia Sweetener

India: Pepsi has started using its new stevia range of sweeteners in its 7Up fizzy drink. This plant based sweetener is expected to be used across all the beverages manufactured under Pepsi’s range of products. Stevia, which is globally the most sought-after natural sweetener contains 30% less sugar.

The sweetener is currently being tested in Gujarat & the change is expected to be incorporated to the PepsiCo’s brand’s portfolio starting from its 7Up range. The company has plans to make its existing portfolio healthier than before. Key reason which prompted the company to take this strategic move can be accounted to growing health consciousness among the consumers of fizzy drinks in India. Currently, all local made colas & diet sodas have been using aspartame which is a synthetic sweetener. Moreover, the diet colas, being a small market includes Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi and Coke Zero and have a share of less than 3% in India. Other companies such as Coca-Cola are not using stevia sweeteners in any of products till date.

The statutory body, FSSAI has given the clearance to use stevia in aerated drinks in November 2015. A scientific government panel in food additives initially recommended to use it in this segment four years ago. In the wake of growing public concern regarding high sugar content in this packaged foods & beverages, there have been concerns to capitalize & reshape the consumer’s increasing interest in health and wellness by reducing its reliance on colas through continuous innovation without compromising on the taste.

According to TechSci Research, this kind of portfolio transformation by PepsiCo is going to be a multi-facet journey and could transform the market of fizzy drinks in India. The lime-lemon aerated drink being PepsiCo's one of the fastest-growing brands, having sales of over USD160 million in India. Moreover, this lime-lemon segment of fizzy drink has almost caught up with colas in market size according to the estimates. The marketing of the new range of 7Up products will be done through multimedia channels advertising for the new formulated 7Up.