Citra was a clear lemon- and lime-flavoured soda sold in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

in the 1980s and early 1990s. Citra was owned by

Parle Bisleri Bisleri International (formerly Parle Exports and Parle Bisleri) is an Indian company which is best known for the eponymous brand of bottled water. The company was started in the 1970s by Ramesh Chauhan, and sells bottled water and soft drinks. ...

. Along with other Parle brands,

Thums Up Thums Up is an Indian multinational brand of cola in India. It was introduced in 1977 to offset the withdrawal of The Coca-Cola Company from India. The brand was later bought by Coca-Cola who re-launched it in order to fight against Pepsi to c ...

Limca Limca is an Indian multinational brand of lemon- and lime-flavoured carbonated soft drink made primarily in India and certain parts of the U.S. It contains 60 calories per 150ml can. The formula does not include fruit, relying instead on arti ...

, Gold Spot and

Maaza Maaza (pronounced "Mahza") is a Coca-Cola fruit drink brand from India and marketed in Africa, Eastern Europe and Asia. Its most popular drink is its mango fruit drink. History The Union Beverages Factory, based in the UAE, began selling it ...

, Citra was sold to

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

in 1993 in a deal that was reportedly worth $40 million. At the time of sale, the Parle brands together had a 60% market share in the aerated

water industry The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage treatment) to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. Typically public utilities operate water supply networks. The water industry doe ...

. The brand was strong in South India. Citra was phased out by the year 2000 to make way for Coke's international brand, Sprite. In 1998, Coke introduced a new drink in the US market also called Citra which was later renamed

Fanta Citrus Citra was a grapefruit-flavored soft drink released into the U.S. market in 1996 by The Coca-Cola Company around the same time as Surge, another citrus-flavored soft drink marketed by Coca-Cola (although Surge contained caffeine while Citra was ...

. Although the brand name was similar, this was a totally different grapefruit-based formula. In February 2012, Coke announced that it was reviving the Citra brand in rural areas of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

and

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

on a pilot basis, on a price strategy that will be 20% cheaper than other Coke and competitor brands. The relaunch is aimed at competing with smaller regional brands.

References

Soft drinks Lemon-lime sodas Indian drink brands Coca-Cola brands {{india-cuisine-stub