Hungary-based Hell Energy to ramp up India sourcing amidst strong double digit growth

Unnikannan Gangadharan, Director, Hell-Energy Pvt Ltd 

Hungary-based beverge maker Hell Energy is looking at ramping up sourcing from India at a time when it is witnessing strong growth in the market. The company, which offers its energy drink in affordable can format, said it is growing faster than the industry average rate as more outlets continue to stock energy drinks.

Unnikannan Gangadharan, Director, Hell Energy Pvt Ltd, told businessline, “Earlier, we used to completely import products from Hungary. But in 2024, almost 20 per cent of the products sold in India were made here. We expect this  contribution to grow as we will increase tie-up with co-fillers to make our products in the country. We expect India’s sourcing contribution to grow to about 30-32 per cent in the coming times.”

The focus on local manufacturing comes on the back of high double digit growth. “In the March quarter, we have seen 60-70 per cent growth over the same period last year. Overall, the can segment in the energy drinks category is also growing at a fast clip of 50 per cent. Hell Energy has been leading this growth,” he added.

Top 3 markets

India is among the top three priority markets for Hell Energy. “ Hell Energy’s strategy of offering energy drinks in sub ₹50 price point (at ₹45) in the can format has helped us garner traction. We have seen a volume growth of nearly 2x in the past seven years. We are also seeing more consumers upgrading to can format from PET bottles,” he added.

With rising consumer interest in the category, the number of outlets stocking up on energy drinks has gone up significantly in the past two years and energy drinks products are being sold even in smaller towns and cities. This comes as the overall energy drinks segment, which includes players such as PepsiCo’s Sting and Red Bull, grew at nearly 30 per cent in the January-February period. The can format contributes about 17 per cent to the overall energy drinks category, while the rest comes from PET bottles.

Talking about the company’s summer strategy, Gangadharan said, “We are ramping up distribution in areas where we have much less saliency. We have been strong in North and West India. Now we plan to expand to every single State to strengthen pan-India penetration. We have also launched consumer promotion activities for summer offering attractive prizes.”

While the general trade remains its largest channel, quick commerce has also emerged as a fast growing segment for the brand that gets nearly 5 per cent of its sales from online channels. 

Published on April 11, 2025