FSSAI says India has no legal 'energy drink' category, accusing PepsiCo and Monster of using the label to mislead buyers. The Delhi High Court is hearing the challenge now.
India's Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) filed court documents on October 28, 2026, stating that PepsiCo and Monster Beverage have been marketing high-caffeine beverages as 'energy drinks' to, in the regulator's own words, 'dupe' consumers — a charge rooted in the fact that India has never formally defined or standardised an 'energy drink' category under food law.
The dispute centres on a June 2026 FSSAI order barring use of the term 'energy drink' on product labels. PepsiCo and Monster Beverage have each filed separate legal challenges at the Delhi High Court, arguing the regulator issued the ban without notice and without giving companies a chance to respond. FSSAI is seeking dismissal of both challenges. The court last month permitted the companies to sell through existing stock carrying the old labels, but blocked the term from appearing on any new production. The case was scheduled for a further hearing in the first week of November 2026.
The broader stakes are considerable. India's energy drinks market is projected to reach $1.6 billion by 2028, growing at 12.6% annually, faster than in the United States or China, according to Euromonitor data cited in a Reuters report. PepsiCo brought Sting, its 21-cent energy drink, to India in 2017 and the product has since become one of the country's most recognisable beverages in the segment. Red Bull, Hell Energy, and Reliance Consumer (part of Mukesh Ambani's Reliance group) have also filed separate lawsuits connected to the same labelling dispute.
What changed, and why FSSAI's argument holds weight
FSSAI's core legal position is straightforward: a product cannot be sold under a category name that does not exist in Indian food standards. Because no 'energy drink' standard has ever been notified under the Food Safety and Standards Act, any product using that label is making an implicit claim the regulatory framework cannot verify or police. The regulator's filings go further, flagging specific ingredients: high caffeine, added sugar, and taurine. Taurine is an amino acid found naturally in meat and fish; in concentrated synthetic form, researchers have linked high intake to cardiovascular stress, though the clinical picture remains contested and no Indian regulatory threshold for taurine in beverages has been published.
This is not a minor labelling technicality. FSSAI's filings explicitly frame the concern as 'serious public health risks and consumer deception.' The regulator appears to be building a record that connects the absence of a legal category with active harm, which would strengthen its hand if the case reaches a higher court.
The international context matters here. England announced in 2026 a ban on energy drink sales to under-16s, effective April 2027. Several Gulf countries already restrict sales to minors. India has no such age restriction in place, and FSSAI has not announced one, but the court filings suggest the regulator is watching global precedent closely.
For Indian consumers, the gap between what a label implies and what the law actually defines is the real problem. A product called an 'energy drink' carries an implicit promise of a regulated, tested formulation. Without a standard, there is no mandatory caffeine ceiling, no required disclosure of taurine quantity, and no benchmark for what 'energy' means in a nutritional sense. Brands have filled that regulatory vacuum with marketing.
What buyers and cooks should do
If you currently drink Sting, Monster, Red Bull, or any product labelled as an 'energy drink' in India, the label itself tells you less than you might assume. Until FSSAI either publishes a formal standard for the category or the court rules definitively, here is what the ingredient panel actually reveals.
Look for caffeine content first. FSSAI's existing rules under the Food Safety and Standards (Food Products Standards and Food Additives) Regulations require caffeine to be listed if added, but there is no mandated per-serving disclosure in milligrams on the front of pack. Flip to the nutritional information table and check total caffeine per 100 ml if listed; a 250 ml can with 32 mg per 100 ml delivers 80 mg per serving, roughly equivalent to a standard espresso.
Check for taurine on the ingredient list. It will appear as 'taurine' or 'L-taurine.' The quantity is rarely disclosed. If you have a cardiac condition, are pregnant, or are buying for a child, that absence of dosage information is a reason to avoid the product entirely until standards are set.
Added sugar is the other variable. Many energy drinks in India carry 27 to 34 grams of sugar per 250 ml can. Cross-reference the 'total sugars' line in the nutrition table against the FSSAI-mandated daily reference value of 90 grams for an adult on a 2,000-calorie diet. One can can account for a third of that.
For those seeking genuine energy from food, the Ayurvedic tradition offers a more traceable route: ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) has a reasonable body of clinical evidence for reducing fatigue, and products using it are subject to FSSAI's nutraceutical standards, which at least require ingredient disclosure. Brands like Kapiva and The Ayurveda Co. sell ashwagandha-based formats with ingredient transparency that the current energy drink segment simply does not match.
The Delhi High Court's eventual ruling will determine whether FSSAI can enforce category-level labelling bans retroactively. Whatever the outcome, the case has already done one useful thing: it has made visible a regulatory gap that Indian consumers were never told existed.