Coca-Cola gets govt nod on voting rights proposal

The local subsidiary of US beverages giant Coca-Cola Company on Thursday said the government has virtually agreed to its proposal which seeks to deny voting rights to Indian shareholders to whom the company has divested 49 per cent equity.

Speaking to reporters at the company's headquarters in Gurgaon, the new president of Coca-Cola India Sanjiv Gupta said, "We believe the reports, absolutely."

Coca-Cola had earlier proposed to the government to remove the condition which restricted the voting rights of its parent company to 51 per cent.

This decision, in effect, means that the Indian shareholders to whom 49 per cent stake was divested would not have any voting rights.

Earlier addressing a press conference, Coca-Coca (East and South Asia) president Patrick Siewert said the company has invested nearly $1 billion in the country as it considered India as one along with China, one of the most important markets.

"We look at India as a very strategic market in the future development of Coca-Cola business. More so, because the per capita consumption is low which will go up in future," he said.

He said affordability of Coca-Cola products, as witnessed in the current surge in volumes following the launch of the 200 ml 'Coke', would continue to be the prime focus of the company.