Last month, homegrown soda brand Lahori Zeera raised INR 200 Cr in a Series B round led by Motilal Oswal, taking its valuation to INR 2,800 Cr. 

Sip Happens 

Saurabh Munjal, Nikhil Doda, and Saurabh Bhutna were cousins. 

Raised in a region of Punjab where food is a celebration, the trio had always been drawn to the bold, spiced flavours that defined their childhood. Whether street-side shikanji served in steel tumblers or goli soda bursting with jeera and kala namak, these were more than drinks; they were rituals of summer afternoons.

In 2016, while reminiscing about the local jeeras they enjoyed as children, Nikhil Doda recreated one in his kitchen. 

With no prior experience in food and beverages, he used basic ingredients like cumin, black salt, and lemon. 

The drink immediately took all three of them back to their childhoods, bringing back memories of the tangy, fizzy goli soda and Banta they used to drink on the street. 

This moment of shared nostalgia would bring back memories of their childhood. They started to wonder why this flavour wasn't easy to find in a bottle. This would be the start of everything that would happen.

Driven by this shared passion, they would begin experimenting with different formulations in their kitchens.

The Punjabi spirit of “jugaad” would play a key role in their early days. Unable to afford large-scale equipment, they sourced second-hand machines and learned to repair them independently. 

They scouted local kirana stores for feedback and conducted informal taste tests with auto drivers, college students, and roadside tea stall owners. 

They believed that if a product could win over Punjab’s demanding and discerning palate, where spice and taste are non-negotiable, it could work anywhere. Their focus was solely on achieving product-market fit.  

The trio would then set up a small production unit in Chandigarh to test and bottle early batches. 

They went through several iterations before finalising a formula that struck the perfect balance of spice, fizz, and flavour, one that tasted both traditional and fresh. 

By 2017, their product was market-ready. 

Named after the cultural melting pot of Lahore to emphasise its roots and the cross-border nostalgia, Lahori Zeera hit local stores. 

Fizzing the Gap

The Indian soft drink market was oddly paradoxical in the years leading up to 2017.

While the overall market was valued at $6B and growing steadily, it was highly skewed towards globalised tastes, as colas, sodas, and fruit drinks sold by multinational brands dominated. 

The space was dominated by MNCs like Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, whose flagship products—Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and Thums Up—were built on sugary and synthetic formulations inspired by Western palettes.

While these would cater to many urban consumers, they would leave behind a massive untapped market: rural and semi-urban India. 

Millions of Indians, particularly those in Tier-2 and 3 cities and rural areas, grew up not on colas but on the tangy, spicy, and savoury flavours of homemade or roadside drinks such as jaljeera, shikanji, and banta. 

These were more than just drinks. They were ingrained in custom and had permeated everyday life.

Despite their widespread appeal, these drinks were primarily limited to local dhabas and street vendors, where they were offered in unbranded, unsanitary forms with inconsistent or nonexistent safety or flavour. 

There was no major, well-organised player to turn this cultural significance and nostalgia into a scalable, reasonably priced, and dependable product.

Lahori Zeera would find its opening right here. 

As the team began distributing their drink in 2017, they weren’t just selling a product but tapping into emotional memories and regional tastes that the beverage industry had long underserved.

Lahori Zeera wasn’t trying to outdo the colas. It would redefine what a mass beverage could be in India by making it Indian, both in flavour and accessibility.

Lahori’s solution would be simple yet powerful. 

A carbonated spiced drink, infused with cumin, black salt, lemon, and other Indian spices. It would be free from preservatives, unlike MNC sodas. It would be packaged in hygienic PET bottles, offering safety and standardisation. 

ost crucially, it was priced at just INR10 per 250ml bottle.

At INR10, Lahori Zeera would democratise access to hygienic, flavorful, spiced soda for people across roadside eateries, railway stalls, local kirana shops, and rural bazaars.

The drink's price point turned it into a daily refreshment rather than a luxury or indulgence.

Pop, Pour, Penetrate

Lahori Zeera had cracked the product. 

A tasty drink at just INR10 for 250 ml that is almost 40% cheaper than big brands such as Coke, Pepsi, offering 300 ml for INR 20.

However, the real challenge was getting it into stores, essentially cracking distribution.

The team started with Ludhiana. 

Picked a few trusted distributors and got the product tested. They received positive feedback on the product from distributors, and even orders started rolling in.

But distributors pushed back when they sought advance payments, insisting they’d only pay post-sales.

Lahori Zeera’s team was clear that if they had to build a brand, it had to operate on an advance payment basis rather than credit. A newer entity can’t change the existing rules of the game from day one.

And hence, instead of bending, the team flipped the script.

They hit the streets, went directly to retailers, got buy-in, and collected pre-orders. 

Armed with a demand, they returned to the distributor: “Here’s your purchase order. We’ve already secured the customers. All you need to do is deliver.”

This hustle-first, proof-before-pitch approach became their signature playbook across markets.It built trust and generated word-of-mouth buzz in neighbourhoods even before the product hit shelves.

Equally critical was their discipline in choosing the right distribution partners. Lahori didn’t chase volume with just anyone.

They partnered only with those with an existing presence in beverages, at least two delivery vehicles, and the capacity to replenish stock multiple times a day, which was essential during the peak summer season.

These weren’t just distributors but local operators with deep networks and credibility. 

These distributors also provided critical input on customer preference, which drove the innovation engine of Lahori Zeera.

In parallel, they set up a small bottling unit in Punjab producing ~1.5 lac bottles daily with funds borrowed from family members. 

This move was strategic. Lahori Zeera ensured tighter control over product quality, consistency, and supply timelines by starting with their manufacturing. These factors were crucial to winning trust in a market dominated by heavyweights with large production capacities.

Their capacity, though minuscule compared to players like Paper Boat (which operated at one crore bottles per month) and negligible next to giants like Pepsi, gave them the flexibility to iterate and respond quickly to demand patterns without depending on third-party bottlers.

From there, the team operated with relentless frugality. They reinvested their sales, expanded delivery routes, created stock buffers for peak summer demand, and relied on word-of-mouth buzz instead of mainstream advertising or institutional capital.

And soon, the momentum kicked in. By 2019, Lahori Zeera could scale rapidly to 20,000 retailers across North India.

As they scaled, the team put together a hands-on distribution system that worked at the ground level.

The foundation would later attract serious investor interest and fuel national expansion.

Thirst Trap

For Lahori Zeera, the real opportunity lay in how they reached people. While the product worked, the real magic was in quietly opening up a market that had long been ignored.

India’s non-alcoholic beverage market is massive, worth nearly INR 67,100 Cr in 2019 and expected to reach INR 150,000 Cr by 2030. 

And yet, when you look closer, it's clear that India was just getting started.

The average Indian consumed about 12 litres of soft beverages per year. In China, the consumption is 79 litres, compared to the U.S., which operates at a staggering over 350 litres per capita.

However, the Indian market was primarily divided into select sub-segments.

Carbonated colas aggregated to INR 38.4K Cr market size, mainly Pepsi and Coca-Cola, selling western flavours with decades of brand recall.

Then there were fruit-based drinks, primarily dominated by mango-based options like Maaza, Slice, and Frooti, a category valued at ₹15,000 Cr. Energy drinks were another segment that had started gaining traction, again dominated by select organised players.

And then there's the traditional beverages segment, led by thousands of unorganised players across towns and highways. These players offered spicy jeera, tangy imli, and aam panna, often in an unhygienic form with little to no brand identity.

This market existed. But no one had been able to organise it.

Paper Boat tried to do that. 

They tapped into nostalgia with INR 30 SKUs of traditional Indian drinks. But while the idea resonated, scaling was a challenge. Mass-market pricing and consistent volumes remained out of reach until they pivoted to fruit-based drinks like ‘Swing’ in 2018.

Lahori Zeera approached the same opportunity differently. 

They offered a clean, consistently tasting product at a price point people could afford and, more importantly, one they could trust.

The timing was perfect, given better refrigeration, expanding kirana networks, and growing demand for hygienic, branded ethnic drinks. 

What once looked like a quirky niche began to look like India’s next beverage frontier.

Bubbling Under INR 10

In the Indian FMCG sector, an INR 10 price tag is both a promise and a trap. It promises mass-market reach but traps brands in a battle of margins to survive.

Lahori Zeera made it work with frugal execution and a simple recipe: water, fizz, a pinch of cumin, black salt, and black pepper, all bottled in a plain PET bottle.

But behind that INR 10 tag was a cost puzzle most wouldn’t attempt

The squeeze begins with taxes. With a 40% GST on sugary drinks - 28% GST and 12% cess, Lahori’s INR 10 bottle shrinks to just INR 6 after tax.

From there, the math gets even tighter: retailers take around INR 2 per bottle with incentives, distributors claim INR 1, and super-stockists take another small cut of 3–4%. 

Retailers earned healthy margins because they were the ones pushing the product to consumers, which is critical in a general trade-led model where the retailer heavily influences the purchase decision.

After all these overheads, Lahori was left with roughly INR 3 per bottle to cover everything else. Nearly INR 2 goes into raw materials, packaging, and logistics. Leaving a 35% gross margin to earn profit.

Freight alone can quietly kill margins in a category where a full truckload barely crosses INR 3 lakh in value. Lahori tackled this by building factories closer to demand hubs, with a fully automated plant in Punjab capable of producing over 1 lakh bottles daily.

They were unable to secure a loan to start this facility so they borrowed 5 crore rupees from their family to build the plant.

These plants helped lower per-unit costs, maximise output, and keep operations lean.

All of these costs still leave Lahori with a remarkable EBITDA margin of around 15%, roughly INR 0.5 per bottle, while the other INR 0.5 goes into marketing, operations, and salaries.

Given the increase in GST from 12% to 40%, the bottle that started at 200ml dropped to 160ml, but the INR 10 promise stayed.

This relentless focus on affordability meant Lahori had to run an ultra-lean operation. There were just a handful of SKUs, no fancy seasonal launches or expensive experiments, and a tight, focused portfolio meant faster production, fewer changeovers, and lower costs. 

At its core, Lahori’s business model was built around a deep general trade network. 

Over 99% of their sales came through kirana stores, and super stockists took on the inventory risk, which helped Lahori scale without tying up capital.

The team hand-picked financially sound distributors with storage, vehicles, and market reach ensuring pull-based demand by first selling directly to retailers and creating product traction before adding layers of distribution.

Lahori was profitable since day one, selling over 10 million bottles monthly from 10 million a year, clocking a revenue of INR 40 Cr in FY22.

Carbonation Nation

2022 marked a turning point for Lahori Zeera.

They raised INR 110 crore in Series A, one of the largest rounds for a beverage company. This helped unlock Lahori's next phase of growth and gave it the capital it needed to scale.

The fresh funds were channelled into three core levers: capacity expansion, distribution depth, and product innovation.

Capacity came first.

Lahori began in 2017 with a capacity of under 1 lakh bottles daily. By 2021, they had scaled the same Punjab facility to 1.2 million bottles daily and doubled to 2 million within a year.

To meet growing demand, they commissioned a second automated plant in Gujarat, pushing capacity to 5 million bottles daily.

The goal was to reach 10 million bottles daily through these automated plants and squeeze as much of the cost advantage as possible while building near-demand hubs to optimise logistics costs.

To put that in context, Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s Indian bottler, was producing over 50 million bottles a day, and Coca-Cola’s SLMG was producing 40 million bottles a day. Both were far ahead, but they were built over decades.

Once capacity scaled, distribution followed.

In early 2023, Lahori was present in just seven states. That number had grown to 16 within a year. The distributor network doubled to over 2,000, while retail touchpoints crossed 5 lakh kirana stores.

Growth came not just from entering new markets but also from deepening existing territories, especially in the three or four core states where Lahori had built strong relationships with distributors and retailers.

Revenue reflected this disciplined execution. Lahori’s top line grew 5x from INR 40 crore in FY22 to INR 220 crore in FY23. During peak summer months, they were moving over 5 million bottles daily. EBITDA stood at INR 31 crore, while the INR 10 price promise remained intact.

The PE money also helped Lahori professionalise. 

The company moved from a scrappy, founder-led setup to a structured FMCG player, with backend systems like ERP, sales tracking, and reporting tools. Processes improved, the team scaled, and execution sharpened.

Product innovation continued alongside scale.

Lahori introduced SKUs like Masala Cola, Shikanji, and Imli Banta, building a portfolio that reflected India’s diverse tastes. 

Product launches were based on ground feedback from shopkeepers, sales data, and repeat purchases.

They changed their Lahori Lemon, which was widely popular in the Punjab area, to Lahori Shikanji to make it more likeable in Delhi.

They weren’t afraid to scrap what didn’t work. Imli Banta didn’t find takers, so they quietly killed it. No sunk cost fallacy. The focus stayed sharp: a lean SKU portfolio, tuned for India’s palate, built for Bharat’s kirana shelves.

In just two years, Lahori had gone from a regional bootstrapped family business to a national challenger to FMCG giants.

Clash of the Colas

By the time Lahori Zeera crossed the INR 300 Cr revenue mark in FY24, it had quietly outpaced several long-established players. 

Although the growth may have appeared sudden, it steadily chipped away at a fragmented market long ignored by the giants.

Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Parle Agro had long dominated India’s non-alcoholic beverage market. While they owned the cola, lemon-lime, and fruit-based drink categories, very few focused on spiced ethnic sodas.

Among organised players in this niche, Lahori’s main rivals included Megha Fruit Processing (makers of Bindu Jeera) in Karnataka and Davat Beverages in Gujarat. 

In FY24, both reported revenues of INR 300-400 Cr and net profits of INR 15-25 Cr. However, it took them over a decade to achieve these results. 

Lahori, by contrast, scaled from INR 11 Cr in FY19 to INR 314 Cr in FY24 in just five years.

Smaller players like Mumbai-based Xotik Frujus and Odisha’s Odi-Ray Industries (SpiceUp) saw notable regional success, but most struggled to expand beyond their home states. 

Lahori’s ability to break out of its northern stronghold and scale pan-India set it apart.

Global giants soon came calling. Coca-Cola and PepsiCo began piloting Indianized SKUs - spiced lemon drinks and regional sodas for the Bharat segment. 

Domestic names like Paper Boat (Hector Beverages), Parle Agro’s Dhishoom, and Jeeru made attempts. But their efforts largely fell into two buckets: premium-priced urban nostalgia or limited regional depth.

Lahori found a middle path. 

It priced its 160ml bottle at INR 10, embraced local spice profiles, avoided preservatives, and targeted the heart of India - tier-2 and tier-3 towns, rural belts, and roadside kirana shops. Its distribution, grounded in general trade and long-standing relationships, helped it outpace better-funded peers.

Unlike Paper Boat’s INR 30-50 SKUs targeting metro consumers, Lahori’s affordability made it a daily refreshment, not a novelty. Compared to Jeeru, which remained popular in western India, Lahori scaled faster using a mix of wholly owned and co-packed plants. And even Parle’s Dhishoom, despite its retail muscle, had not matched Lahori’s grassroots pull.

Lahori’s brand story, rooted in nostalgia and built around the tagline ‘desi hi changa’ - resonated widely. Its spice-forward recipe offered taste fidelity unmatched by synthetic colas.

The idea of a jeera soda wasn’t new. But the space lacked an organised leader in the north - India’s largest soft drink belt. Lahori stepped in and filled that void.

Its edge lay in combining flavour authenticity, price accessibility, and deep distribution. While the idea was not unique, Lahori’s execution - rapid, frugal, and sharply consumer-focused - was hard to replicate.

Half a Million Coolers

By mid-2025, Lahori Zeera had transitioned from a regional disruptor to a serious national player. Its products are available in 18 states in over 500,000 retail outlets and supported by a network of 2,000+ experienced distributors.

This was not just about volume alone. 

Nearly all of Lahori’s distributors came from a beverage background, averaging 10-12 years in the trade. That mattered. Seasoned partners knew when to stock up, how to service kirana stores, and which levers moved demand during peak seasons.

While Zeera soda remained the hero, other variants—Shikanji, Kacha Aam, Nimboo, and Gimboo—were gaining traction. Together, they now contribute close to half the business.

Over 95% of Lahori’s sales came from general trade. Buying was often impulsive, driven by trust and visibility. The INR 10 price point ensured Lahori did not compete for wallet share - it simply captured the moment.

Its dominance in kirana-led retail was built bottle by bottle. From railway stalls and roadside eateries to rural bazaars, Lahori created a playbook that turned high-frequency footfall into volume-led scale. While Zeera remained the anchor, its other variants - like Kacha Aam, Nimboo, and Shikanji - were now pulling weight. 

Operationally, the company stood on solid ground. It ran three large manufacturing units in Punjab, Gujarat, and Lucknow. Combined, these produced over 5 million bottles daily. Plans were in place to scale this to 10 million through new co-packing units near demand hubs. The efficiency-led model showed both growth and profitability.

In May 2025, Lahori raised INR 200 Cr, tripling its valuation to INR 2,800 Cr ($330M). The funds were earmarked for distribution, systems upgrades, and export preparation. 

Its team now stood at over 1,800 people. Lahori was also expanding into new formats, including modern retail, QSR chains, schools, and railways, shifting from a grassroots-only to an omnichannel presence.

Lahori’s biggest strength was not just low pricing or regional flavour. It was adaptability. It proved that mass could be aspirational, that ‘vernacular’ did not have to mean ‘niche’, and that a desi brand could outpace the giants.

From Jeera to the World

As Lahori scales, it is no longer content being a challenger. The next chapter would hinge on two plays: product diversification and exports.

On the product side, Lahori is developing a non-carbonated range. Think lassi, buttermilk, aam panna, and fruit-based still drinks. These will be aimed at women and children who might not prefer fizzy drinks, and come with higher margins.

These drinks will also open the doors to health and wellness. With rising demand for low-sugar, natural refreshers, traditional Indian beverages tick both boxes. They are familiar and functional.

Internationally, Lahori is focused on Gulf countries, Southeast Asia, and Africa. These regions offer warm climates and strong Indian diaspora bases. Those looking for nostalgia can find an easy way to get back to India through a drink. 

A soft launch in the UAE is planned for late 2025. With its cosmopolitan population, modern retail formats, and year-round demand for cold beverages, the UAE offers an ideal testbed for Lahori’s global ambitions, both for carbonated and still drinks.

Back home, the goal is to reach INR 1,000 Cr in revenue by FY26. Retail expansion, seasonal campaigns, and brand tie-ups are all part of the roadmap.

The long game is to build a global beverage brand from India, rooted in local flavours and everyday familiarity.

Lahori's journey feels grounded in a sea of consumer startups chasing urban vanity metrics. It cracked product-market fit early, scaled the distribution without burning VC cash, stayed profitable, and stayed true to its roots.

Thumbs Up had shook up the Indian beverage industry many years ago with a very different taste and punch. Lahori Zeera is building for a new India and could invent a new beverage pioneer for an emerging India. 

Writing: Parth, Ajeet, Nikhil, Raghav, Tanish and Aviral Design: Omkar