Coca-Cola India

Overview

Coca-Cola India

type	Subsidiary
area served	India
key people	Sanket Ray (President and CEO), since 2020
industry	Consumer goods
products	Drinks & beverages
parent	The Coca-Cola Company
foundation	Original: 1950 Relaunch: 1993
location city	Gurgaon, India
location country	Udyog Vihar Industrial Area Phase 5, Gurgaon, Delhi
homepage	https://www.coca-cola.com/in/en
num employees	25,000 (direct)

Coca-Cola India is a subsidiary of The Coca-Cola Company and operates in India.[1][2][3][4][5] Sanket Ray is President of India and Southwest Asia for The Coca‑Cola Company. Ray, who joined the company in 2004, was named to this position in 2020.[6]

Background

The Coca-Cola Company started operating in India in 1950. However, in 1977, they withdrew operations from the country due to regulations and legislation by the Government of India limiting the dilution of equity of multinational corporations and formula disclosure.

Controversy

Centre for Science and Environment

Coca Cola sales in India declined 11% in the third quarter of 2003 due to allegations by the Delhi-based Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), which said the top 12 soft drink brands of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola contained pesticides and insecticides in excess of the limits set by the European Economic Commission (EEC).[9]

Plachimada plant

Coca-Cola had set up a factory in the tribal village of Plachimada in Kerala in 1999. The factory extracted huge quantities of groundwater for its production. The groundwater level receded and was found to be contaminated by the factory's operations, giving rise to health issues among the residents of the village. The company sold the slurry and sludge waste as fertilizer to locals, primarily engaged in farming, which was later found to contain dangerous levels of toxic metals in a study conducted by University of Exeter. Coca-Cola India executives, however, claimed that the fertilizer was "good for crops", and they had scientific evidence proving its safety. [10] Eventually, locals mobilized under the banner 'Coca-Cola Virudha Janakeeya Samara Samithy' (Anti Coca-Cola Peoples Struggle Committee) and demanded that the factory be closed and farmers be compensated.[11] The company initiated legal action against the protestors, which resulted in intimidation, arrests and false case being filed against the protestors.[12] They received support from neighbouring villages, environmentalists, politicians, scientists, and several civil society organizations.[13] The plant was forced to stop production in March 2004. The cause of the farmers became international with a BBC investigatory report and later in 2007 when college students in the United States ran a nationwide campaign calling for a boycott of Coca-Cola.[12][14] After a prolonged legal battle in Kerala High Court and then the Supreme Court, Coca-Cola relinquished its license in July 2017 and stated that it would not resume production in the plant.[11]

Coca-Cola India

Background

Products

Sustainability

Controversy

Centre for Science and Environment

Plachimada plant

See also

External links

References