Coke eyes Kerala's tender coconut water
Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 20:30 IST
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THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Though its first project in Kerala is bogged down by controversy, soft drink giant Coca-Cola is eyeing this state again, this time to market tender coconut water. "We are planning a project on marketing tender coconut water with a longer shelf life," said Deepak Mehrotra, vice president of Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, in which Coca-Cola has a majority stake. Mehrotra said Coca-Cola was planning to invest about $145 million in India over the next few years, with $45 million likely to be pumped into the southern states including Kerala. Several companies have been planning to package and sell tender coconut water for some years now, but most such ventures are on hold for technical reasons. Jiji Thompson, managing director of Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation, confirmed that Coca-Cola would attend the Global Investors' Meet in Kochi this week to showcase a proposal on selling tender coconut water. This is despite the fact that Coke's first venture in Kerala, a bottling plant in Palakkad, is in trouble. Locals have been demanding that the plant be closed down because it has allegedly been using more than its share of water. The irony is that though a government led by the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) had cleared the bottling plant project in record time in 2000, the same party -- now in the opposition -- is spearheading protests against the Coca-Cola unit. "It is true that it was our government that gave the license, but today close to 5,000 families are struggling to get water on account of over utilisation of water by the plant and it should be stopped at any cost," said Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan. There were also allegations that the bottling plant was spreading pollution. But the company got a shot in the arm when the state groundwater department gave it a clean chit, saying there was no scientific proof that pollution in the area was caused by the discharge from the bottling plant. Coca-Cola is now awaiting the outcome of Thursday's meeting of the assembly committee on environment, hoping to get another clean chit.
Source: IANS
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