It has also decided to appoint 100,000 new dealers in one year, taking the number of Coke dealers up to 400,000. The multinational has also received an endorsement from its bottlers for its 36 per cent growth target for 1997.
The assurance, which came at a meeting with bottlers in Delhi on September 7, settles one of the key issues of contention between the multinational and its bottlers.
To give final shape to Coke's India policy, Andrew Engel, president South-East Asia and West Asia, who is in charge of India operations, is coming to Delhi today for talks.
Discussions with bottlers on the future course of action in India is also on his agenda. Engel is based in Bangkok.
The contentious issues of increasing the price of soft drinks and the launch of 200 ml bottles, which has been opposed by bottlers, were left undecided at the meeting yesterday.
At the national meeting of Coke bottlers on September 7, the company tried to allay the fears of bottlers who fear loss of operational control with the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearing Coke's proposal to invest $700 million in two subsidiary bottling companies in India.
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The matter came to head when some bottlers rejected a Coke proposal to launch 200 ml bottles.
Coke bottlers have also been peeved at Coke's opposition to a demand for increase in the price of soft drinks by 50 paise to Re 1.