Law & Justice

Delhi High Court Sends PepsiCo’s ‘Energy Drink’ Label Dispute Back to Judge

By Neethi Lisa Rojan, Krishna Yadav

The Delhi High Court on Monday declined to grant PepsiCo immediate relief in its challenge over the use of the term ‘energy drink’ on new stocks of Sting. A division bench directed a single judge to explain within one week why PepsiCo should not be allowed to manufacture more products bearing the label. Acting chief justice Justice Nitin Wasudeo Sambre said, “Let the aforesaid exercise be completed by the learned single judge within the period of one week from today.” The bench noted that the earlier order had not specified reasons for restricting further production of the product and added that it had not yet considered the merits of the case. As a result, PepsiCo must await a new decision before any relief is granted regarding the manufacture of new stock with the ‘energy drink’ descriptor. PepsiCo did not respond to queries. On 6 October, Justice Amit Mahajan had allowed PepsiCo to sell existing stocks bearing the ‘energy drink’ descriptor but barred the manufacture of new stocks with the label, following directions from the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) that restrict the term on certain caffeinated beverages. The Delhi High Court has issued similar interim orders for other companies. On 29 September, the court set aside a notice served to Red Bull over ‘energy drink’ labelling, holding that the company should have been given an opportunity to respond before the regulator passed the order. The court also noted that orders against Reliance Consumer’s Campa energy drink were passed without issuing a show‑cause notice to the company. In a social media post on 1 July, FSSAI said it had issued notices to several beverage brands claiming to be ‘energy drinks’ for misbranding and misleading claims. The regulator named brands including Red Bull Energy Drink, PepsiCo India’s Adrenaline Rush Energy Drink, Sting Energy Drink, Monster Energy, Hell‑Energy Drink, and Reliance’s Campa Energy Drink‑Gold Boost for using the descriptor ‘energy drink’ on physical packaging and across various e‑commerce platforms. PepsiCo, a major player in India’s beverage market, sells brands such as Sting and Adrenaline Rush, which are commonly classified as ‘energy drinks’. FSSAI said its food category system is not intended for product naming or labelling and that claims such as ‘stimulates mind’, ‘energises body’, ‘enhances focus’, ‘boosts energy levels’ and ‘aids in general weakness’ were not permissible unless legally supported. In earlier filings, PepsiCo said the regulator’s order would have ‘grave commercial consequences’ and hurt ‘substantial investments’, as it had 492 million bottles and 26 million cans with those labels in circulation on 31 July. India’s energy drinks market is expanding rapidly. Euromonitor estimates retail sales are growing 12.6 % annually, faster than in the US and China, and the market is expected to be worth $1.6 billion by 2028.