Coca-Cola suspends manufacturing at 3 plants in India

Coca-Cola India’s bottling arm Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages has suspended manufacturing at three locations in India citing absence of “long-term economic viability”, which may affect at least 300 employees.

The company has suspended manufacturing at Kaladera near Jaipur (Rajasthan), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Brynihat (Meghalaya).

“The decision to close down a plant is a business decision taken on the basis of its long-term economic viability and market demands of the products being manufactured at that particular plant,” a source told PTI.

“Accordingly the decision to suspend manufacturing at these locations including Kaladera was made. At these locations all operations except for manufacturing is continuing,” the source said.

When contacted a Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL) spokesperson said: “Like with any other manufacturing organisation, we are going through a process of consolidation where new state-of-the art facilities are being built and existing production capacities are being optimised.

“These decisions are taken in keeping with plant capacity utilisation considerations, based on the market demands and projections,” he added.

“With regard to our Kaladera plant in Rajasthan, while we have currently suspended manufacturing, we are continuing with all other operations at Kaladera. We also retain the licence to produce at this Plant, which is testimony to the fact that should there be a change in demand and volume, we may utilise this latent capacity at the Kaladera plant,” the spokesperson said.

HCCB has 54 plants in India of which 24 are franchise plants, 25 are company-owned and 5 are co-packers. Coca Cola India sells a range of soft drinks including Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Fanta, Limca, Sprite and Maaza, among others.

In 2012, the Atlanta-based beverages major had announced to invest about Rs. 28,000 crore (USD 5 billion) along with its partners in India by 2020 on various activities including setting up of new bottling plants.

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No party can change quota policy, says Modi

At his poll meeting at Naubatpur in Patna, the last on Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi broke his silence on the issue of reservation, saying no party today could afford to make any change in the reservation policy enshrined in the Constitution.

He said that on this issue, he was with Nitish Kumar, Lalu Prasad and other leaders. “There will be no change in the reservation policy that Babasaheb Ambedkar espoused in the Constitution… In fact, no party today can afford to make any change,” he said. “Rights given by Babasaheb Ambedkar for the socially backward classes will never be taken away by my government … ” Mr. Modi said.

In the States where the BJP was in power quotas had not been tampered with, he said.

“I’ve been Chief Minister of Gujarat for 15 years… We’ve government in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Haryana and in other States as well but nowhere reservation has been touched.”

Striking a personal note, he said: “Sometimes I wonder had Babasaheb Ambedkar not been there, what would have happened to Narendra Modi, who was selling tea in trains in his childhood.”

On the same page

In a bid to clear the confusion over the BJP’s stand on the reservation issue, Mr. Modi said that he might have differences with Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad or others on other matters, but on the issue of quota he held the same view.

“We cannot even think of doing anything with the reservation policy. There has not been any demand for a change in the policy from anywhere…in fact, there are only demands from others to include them in the reservation benefits,” said the Prime Minister.

“But, since they [rival grand alliance leaders] have no other issues, they are spreading misinformation and canards against us,” Mr. Modi charged.

Earlier, in an interview, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat had said that there should be a “review” of the reservation policy. That statement put the BJP-led NDA on the back foot in the Bihar election campaign.

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5,800 tonnes of hoarded pulses seized

To discourage hoarding of pulses for speculation, the government on Tuesday intensified its drive against excess stock holding with official agencies seizing over 5,800 tonnes of illegally stored pulses in surprise raids.

Union Cabinet secretary P.K. Sinha took another meeting of top officials of departments concerned for the second consecutive day to review the situation.

Officially, the average price of tur stood at about Rs. 156 a kilogram, while urad remained at Rs. 138 a kg. Government outlets like the Kendriya Bhandar and Safal have started selling imported dal at Rs. 120 a kg, government sources said.

The meeting discussed the action taken by State governments against hoarding under the Essential Commodities Act and reviewed the availability of pulses sold through official outlets to check the high prices of tur and urad.

According to the Consumer Affairs Ministry, over 5,800 tonnes of pulses stored in excess of stock limits were seized in five States.

Around 2,546 tonnes were seized in Telangana, 2,295 tonnes in Madhya Pradesh, 600 tonnes in Andhra Pradesh, 360 tonnes in Karnataka and one tonne in Maharashtra.

Raids on in TN, Karnataka

“Raids are being carried out in Mysuru and Kalaburagi in Karnataka as also in Tamil Nadu,’’ official sources said. The Rajasthan government has also intensified enforcement of stock limits on pulses. Besides taking measures to de-hoard illegally stored pulses, State governments have begun to withdraw exemption on stock holding limits given earlier to pulse importers, exporters, licensed food processors and large departmental retailers, in line with the Centre’s orders.

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu have already issued orders to this effect, the sources said.

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