New Delhi, March 5: The Government is taking steps to severely restrict the operations of the Coca Cola Company in India, the Industry and Civil Supplies Minister, Mr. T. A. Pai told the Lok Sabha to-day.
A policy decision had already been taken not to issue any more licences for Coca Cola factories and the company had also been directed not to introduce any new soft drinks.
Mr. Pai agreed with members that the operations of the company not serving an essential purpose should be checked and indigenous bottling companies encouraged to introduce their own soft drinks. If the indigenous companies were prepared to delink themselves from the Coca Cola company the Government would extend necessary assistance to them, the Minister said.
Mr. Pai, however, denied Mr. Khemchandbhai Chavda’s charge that a former Secretary of the Industry Ministry had favoured the Coca Cola company in the issue of the licences. There was no truth in the allegation, he said.
Mr. Chavda, who had raised the matter during question hour demanded a parliamentary committee to inquire into the subject.
The Minister said that originally the company was allotted to import Rs 8 lakhs worth of Coca Cola concentrate and later this was increased to Rs 15 lakhs on the condition that the entitlement would be reduced considerably in the next five years.
“We are making all efforts to substitute Coca Cola with something else,” he said.
Mr. Pai told the members that steps were also being taken to get the foreign participation to the company reduced.
Published – March 06, 2025 02:56 am IST