New Delhi: The Delhi High Court has granted interim relief to Reliance Consumer Products, PepsiCo and Monster Beverage in their legal challenges against directions issued by India's food regulator over the use of the term “Energy Drink” on certain beverages.
The court's orders prevent immediate enforcement of the disputed directions, but the wider regulatory dispute remains unresolved. The court has not ruled that the companies can permanently use the term on their products.
Reliance Consumer Products filed its writ petition on October 1, challenging a June 30 order issued by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, or FSSAI. The company has challenged the regulator's action over its Campa Energy Drink Gold Boost product.
Justice Amit Mahajan of the Delhi High Court stayed the June 30 direction against Reliance and a July 17 communication asking food safety authorities in states and Union territories to enforce the order against the company.
Reliance told the court that it had 168 million finished cans and 120 million plastic bottles carrying the disputed label. It also said packaging had already been printed for another 400 million cans and 360 million bottles.
The company said in its court filing that some of its products had been seized by state authorities and that online platforms had been asked to remove affected products. Reliance argued that the regulatory action had caused significant disruption to its business.
PepsiCo and Monster have also challenged the FSSAI action. The court allowed the companies to sell existing stocks carrying the disputed label, but they cannot manufacture additional products bearing the descriptor under the reported terms of the interim relief.
The latest court action follows an earlier ruling involving Red Bull. On September 29, the Delhi High Court set aside the FSSAI order against Red Bull after finding that the company had not been given an adequate opportunity to respond before the regulatory action was taken.
The Red Bull ruling did not establish that the company was permanently entitled to use the term “Energy Drink”. It left FSSAI free to reconsider the matter after following the required legal process.
FSSAI's action began in June when the regulator raised concerns about the use of the term “Energy Drink” and certain claims made by manufacturers of high caffeine beverages. The regulator said there was no notified Indian food standard specifically for products called “Energy Drink”.
India does, however, have regulations governing caffeinated beverages. The dispute is therefore not a general ban on caffeinated drinks in the country. It mainly concerns how certain products are classified, labelled and marketed.
FSSAI had initially taken action involving several major brands, including Red Bull Energy Drink, PepsiCo's Adrenaline Rush Energy Drink, Reliance's Campa Energy Drink Gold Boost, Sting Energy Drink, Hell Energy and Monster Energy.
The regulator also raised concerns about claims suggesting that such products could boost energy, improve focus or provide other benefits to consumers.
During Tuesday's hearing, FSSAI's lawyers referred to discussions held with industry representatives after the June order. The regulator argued that there had been engagement with the industry over the labelling issue. PepsiCo's lawyer said that any agreement to remove the disputed label had been made under protest.
The dispute comes as India's energy drinks market continues to grow. Euromonitor estimates that the country's energy drink retail market is growing by about 12.6 percent annually and could reach $1.6 billion by 2028.
The case is also significant for Reliance as the company expands its consumer goods business. Reliance revived the Campa brand in 2023 and has used it to compete with established beverage companies in India's large consumer market.
For now, the court's orders provide temporary relief to the companies, but they do not settle the wider dispute with FSSAI. The court is expected to consider the cases again on November 5.
The proceedings could have wider implications for how India's food regulator applies its rules to high caffeine beverages and how companies describe and market such products to consumers.