Here is your Forbes Daily Briefing for Wednesday, October 15th.

Today on Forbes, India's richest man adds Fizz to country's cola market with relaunch of iconic brand.

India's cola wars are bubbling over with the revival of homegrown brand Kampakola by Reliance Consumer Products,

a unit of Mukeshambani's Reliance Industries.

Since acquiring the brand three years ago, Reliance Consumer, overseen by his daughter, Isha,

has followed its playbook of aggressive pricing to shake up the country's soft drinks market,

which has long been dominated by the Coca-Cola Company and PepsiCo. Kampa sells 200-millimeter bottles for 10 rupees,

or the equivalent of 12 cents, about half the retail price of 250-millimeter bottles from the American

giants. At the annual shareholders meeting in August, Ambani disclosed, quote,

Kampa Cola now holds double-digit market share across many states,

breaking a 30-year multinational duopoly.

The frothy competition poses a challenge to India's cola king, Ravi Jaipuriyah, whose Varun beverages

is PepsiCo's second largest bottler outside the U.S. In an earnings conference call in July,

he acknowledged, quote, of course, competition is there. However, they will get their share,

and we will get ours. While nearly three-fourths of the company's 126 billion rupees in

revenue, or about $1.4 billion U.S. dollars, comes from India, where it has 36 bottling plants,

Varoon beverages is looking overseas for growth. In 2024, it inked deals to acquire PepsiCo's

businesses in Tanzania and Ghana, add to its 13-country-strong portfolio.

Despite these moves, the stock is down 22% from a year ago, resulting in a $4 billion drop in Jaipuria's net worth to $13.3 billion.

Another deep-pocketed player has entered the fray.

Billionaire Brothers, Shyam and Hari Bartia's Jubilant Bartia Group,

which owns the Indian franchises for Domino's Pizza and Dunkin' Donuts,

...