P.M. BRIEFING : India Rejects Coca-Cola--Again
NEW DELHI — India today rejected Coca-Cola Co.’s bid to re-enter its growing market, from which the soft-drink maker was effectively ejected in 1977.
Commerce Minister Arun Nehru announced to Parliament that he has turned down Coca-Cola’s proposal to set up a plant near New Delhi to make its soft-drink concentrate.
A ministry spokeswoman declined to explain the decision.
The government’s move leaves PepsiCo, Coca-Cola’s main rival, as the only foreign soft-drink firm with a presence in the growing Indian market, now worth $200 million.
The rejection was the second setback for Coca-Cola in India at the hands of a non-Congress Party government. In 1977, when the first non-Congress government took power, it asked the company to give up 60% of its fully owned Indian subsidiary. The company refused and pulled out of the country. Its bid to return centered on a proposal made months before India’s second non-Congress government since independence took power in December.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
