Double Seven

A dramatic landslide election in 1977 reshaped India’s political landscape and triggered a sudden break with several multinational companies. The new ruling coalition, rooted in nationalist and state-centered economic thinking and critical of foreign corporate control, enforced stricter rules on ownership and regulation. As a result, The Coca-Cola Company withdrew from India. Its exit opened the market to a wave of domestically produced colas, including Double Seven.

Double Seven was launched later in 1977 as a government-backed cola closely tied to the symbolism of the election year. The name was selected through a national naming competition, which was won — by coincidence, of course — by one of the ruling parties’ own Members of Parliament. The drink was introduced as a state alternative to Coca-Cola.

Despite political support and rapid rollout, Double Seven struggled to gain lasting acceptance. It competed with other Indian colas launched in the same period, notably Campa Cola and Thums Up. A lemon-lime variant, Double Seven Tingle, expanded the range. Promotional efforts included consumer competitions. One campaign asked buyers to collect the numbers 1 to 7 printed under the bottle caps. When number 7 proved impossible to obtain, the promotion triggered a consumer backlash.

Alongside its official name, Double Seven was known by several informal names. One was Sarkari Cola, a colloquial term derived from the Hindi word sarkari, meaning state-owned or government-run. Another commonly used name was Satattar, the Hindi word for “seven-seven.”

After a change of government in 1980, official enthusiasm for a cola so closely tied to 1977 diminished. Losses accumulated, and Double Seven gradually disappeared from shelves, fading from the market around 1983.