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Ten per cent of Coca-Cola India to be hit by global revamp: AFP

Rediff report: Recast of Coca-Cola India is 'absolutely necessary'

Coca-Cola India, a subsidiary of the US-based soft-drink major, could lay off 10 per cent of its managerial staff in India as part of the parent company's restructuring plan, sources said.

"About 80 people working in managerial positions would be affected out of the total strength of 800," said a senior official in Coca-Cola India who asked not to be identified.

Atlanta-based Coca-Cola announced on Tuesday the elimination of 6,000 jobs or 20 per cent of its global workforce.

A company spokesman said 2,500 positions would be eliminated at corporate headquarters in Atlanta and 800 elsewhere in the United States, with the rest of the cuts implemented overseas.

The Indian subsidiary official said the soft-drink industry here was going through a bad phase.

"Growth has slipped by 20 percentage points year-on-year in the last fiscal year to March 31, 1999 to five per cent. The accumulated loss of the whole industry is about six billion rupees ($ 139 million)," he said.

Coca-Cola India announced a voluntary retirement scheme two years ago that helped streamline the bloated workforce created by the consolidation of the company's bottling operations.

The government's excise duty on soft drinks, the official said, increased by 66 per cent in the last two years, while product prices rose only 28 per cent. "Government will have to rationalise the excise duty structure," he added. Coca-Cola India started operations in 1993.