Double Seven was an Indian

soft drink A soft drink (see § Terminology for other names) is a drink A drink or beverage is a liquid intended for human consumption. In addition to their basic function of satisfying thirst, drinks play important roles in human culture. Common t ...

brand. It was manufactured and marketed by the

Indian government The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...

after

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

quit the Indian market in 1977 due to changes in government policies. Double Seven was launched at the annual trade fair at

Pragati Maidan Pragati Maidan is a venue for large exhibitions and conventions in the city of New Delhi, India. It has an area of nearly 150 acres (more than 625,000m2) of exhibition space, being among the biggest exhibition centers in India. It is owned, ...

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

as a gift by the then ruling

Janata Party The Janata Party ( JP, lit. ''People's Party'') was a political party that was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian Nati ...

. In 1977, as per the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act brought by the Morarji Desai government, Coca-Cola was required to reduce its ownership stake of its Indian operation. Coca-Cola along with other United States companies chose to leave India than to operate under the new laws. Developed to fill the void left by Coca-Cola, Double Seven was quickly designed, named by a national competition for naming the product, manufactured and marketed by

Modern Food Industries Modern Food Industries (India) Ltd (MFIL) was set up in 1965 as Modern Bakeries (India) Limited and owned by Government of India. It was situated at Kazhikundram, Taramani (Near Tidel Park), Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was set up under the Colomb ...

, a government-owned company. The formula for the concentrate of Double Seven was developed at Central Food Technological Research Institute,

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude o ...

. Despite government backing, Double Seven could not dominate the Indian soft drinks market, however the program was very successful as the void left by Coca-Cola was filled. The main competitors to Double Seven were

Campa Cola Campa Cola is a soft drink brand in India. It was a market leader in the Indian soft drink market in the 1970s and 1980s in most regions of India until the advent of the foreign players Pepsi and Coca-Cola after the liberalisation policy of th ...

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 ...

, Duke's, McDowell's Crush and Double Cola. Double Seven also had a lemon-lime soft drink known as Double Seven Tingle. Double Seven was the winning name in a national competition to name the drink. The drink lost share of market as

Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (; ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and a central figure of the Indian National Congress. She was elected as third prime minister of India in 1966 and was al ...

's government that came to power a few years later was not interested in supporting a product which reminded them of 1977, the year that Indira Gandhi lost the national elections and other drinks like Thums Up became very popular. Modern Food Industries gradually slipped into the red and was taken over by

Hindustan Lever Limited Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a consumer goods company headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is a subsidiary of Unilever, a British company. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products, water purifi ...

in January 2000. Thums Up, which was also launched in 1977 after the departure of Coca-Cola, continued to thrive until its eventual takeover by Coca-Cola.

References

{{Colas Products introduced in 1977 Indian drink brands Defunct drink brands Desai administration

See also

References