Coca-Cola India, the Indian arm of the world's largest beverage company, said on Monday it remains upbeat about growing sales in the country despite a slowdown in the economy.
"We are seeing good growth. We are not concerned with one-quarter loss," said James Quincy, Chief Executive Officer of the Coca Cola Company.
"We aim to grow as we have seen good demand for beverages. If you are doing the right things and investing properly, there is good business," he said while addressing a press conference here.
Coca-Cola has committed to investing 1.7 billion dollars by 2023 to grow what it calls the fruit circular economy in India.
Quincy said there has been no significant impact of coronavirus on the Indian business. Rather, sales of carbonated drinks are on the rise.
"Innovation has become a bigger part of what we do in the past few years. It is a global initiative to refresh and operate the business sustainably. The challenges in Indian market are not the same as European markets," he said.
Speaking on the packaging revamp, Quincy said more than 90 per cent PET bottles have already been collected in India.
"We aim to bring the wastes into control. We will use a range of materials in packaging so that things are in control," he said.
When asked if the recent law and order disturbances across the country due to mass agitations in protest of the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens, Quincey said any kind of disruption in the functioning of society is a problem for all businesses.
"India is a vibrant democracy and needs to work out what's going on. We hope that things get resolved in an appropriately democratic manner," he said.
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