Coca Cola Middle East Group Chief To Visit India

Ostensibly on a leisure trip to the country, Daft is expected to call upon the beverage giants Indian franchisee bottlers to discuss with them Cokes proposed joint venture investment plans for the country.

Coca Cola India confirmed Dafts visit, and a company spokesman told Business Standard: Daft is indeed planning to visit India on a leisure trip. He will be accompanied by his family.

However, he said the dates of the visit had not yet been fixed.

Some bottlers stated that they would take this opportunity to meet Daft and hold discussions with him to break the impasse over the proposal set before them by the beverages multinational at the London meeting last month on bottling ventures.

 

These meetings with the domestic bottlers would be the second round of interaction of the bottlers with Daft after his presentation of the joint venture proposal of Coke for bottling investments and operations in the country on October 1, 1996, in London.

At the London meeting with its bottlers, Coke had proposed to incorporate bottlers as equity partners in the two bottling companies to be set up by the multinational in the country.

However, Cokes equity proposal was rejected outright by the Indian bottlers who contested the companys projections of investment and market size. The bottlers had also stated that they would invest according to market demand, instead of giving up control to the multinational.

The bottlers had also contended that any attempt by Coke to establish its own 100% companies without them would tantamount to a violation of the franchisee contracts signed with them that assure them territorial rights.

Coke has, however, assured the bottlers that all franchisee contracts will be honoured.