GURGAON: India’s Diet Coke drinkers face a double blow: they cannot find a can, and when they do, it will cost more. A shortage of aluminium cans, driven by the Iran war and compounded by a domestic regulatory stumble, has forced Coca-Cola to ration supplies and push through a price rise from Rs 40 to Rs 50 per can, a jump of 25 per cent.
The trouble starts in the Gulf, which accounts for around 9 per cent of global aluminium production. Since the end of February, Iran’s de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has trapped shipments, driving aluminium prices up by 14 to 20 per cent and pushing can production to nearly 20 per cent below demand. Unlike most soft drinks sold in India, which come in both plastic bottles and cans, Diet Coke is sold only in cans. That makes it uniquely exposed to any squeeze on supply.
A regulatory move has made things worse. In April 2025, aluminium cans were brought under mandatory BIS certification, a quality control order designed to standardise the market. The intention was sound, but approval delays have choked both domestic production and imports, leaving manufacturers caught short even before the war tightened the screws further.
Two Coca-Cola distributors told Reuters the company had notified them it was rationing supplies or not fulfilling some orders. “We’ve been placing orders but have been told there is a shortage due to war,” said Sanjay, one of the distributors, who declined to give his last name. Coca-Cola declined to comment.
An industry executive confirmed the picture. “There is some production happening, but it’s being rationed as the company can’t meet all the demand,” the executive said, adding that an energy shortage had also raised the cost of making cans domestically.
The squeeze is hitting a market Coca-Cola has been counting on. The company reported sales of 50 billion rupees ($533 million) in 2024-25, its highest in at least four years. Sugar-free drinks are a key growth bet: India’s reduced-sugar food and beverage market is forecast to reach $4.7 billion by 2030, more than double its 2023 size, according to Grand View Research.
On the ground, the gaps are plain. In northern Uttar Pradesh, grocer Ashish Saxena said Diet Coke orders had slipped badly. “Earlier, orders were delivered within five-six hours,” he said, noting that the company was now steering customers towards Coke Zero, which comes in a plastic bottle. On Instagram, memes are multiplying; one video by user Devanshu Saran shows a man sprinting to a supermarket and hoarding more than a dozen cans.
Kerala Tourism has spotted an opening. The state’s official social media account posted a photograph of a fresh tender coconut cheekily labelled “Tender Coke’o’nut”, with the caption: “No worries for weight-watchers in Kerala!” The post, riffing on the nationwide shortage, turned into a trending talking point within hours, quietly nudging consumers towards coconut water, a natural, low-calorie, electrolyte-rich drink already popular with visitors to the state’s backwaters, beaches and hill stations.
For Diet Coke loyalists, the arithmetic is brutal: the can is scarcer, the price is higher, and Kerala is laughing. The calorie-free habit just got a great deal more costly.