Coke in no rush to hike prices despite inflation

Beverages giant Coca-Cola has no immediate plans to hike prices despite the soaring inflation in food items. The company said it was monitoring the situation and would take a decision on pricing only if the rising input costs have a long-term impact on production.

Speaking in Hyderabad after signing a memorandum of understanding with the Indian School of Business on Monday to set up a retail academy on its premises, Atul Singh, president and chief executive officer, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia, said, ''We continue to evaluate a broad range of package formats, which can lead to different costing inputs. Sometimes costs go up, let's say phenomenally, but it doesn't have a long-term impact. Food inflation is a concern for all of us. We are monitoring the situation.''

With rising input costs such as sugar, the company, which has 56 bottling plants across the country, said it would evaluate and minimise the impact on its production costs. ''We are looking at opportunities to minimise the impact,'' said Ahmet Bozer, the company's group president, Eurasia and Africa.

Meanwhile, the retail academy, which offers a six month programme to train mid-level professionals in retail management, will be kicked off in July.

The academy will conduct retail research and online training as well. ''The retail sector in India is undergoing a rapid transformation and ISB will provide them cutting edge pedagogy,'' said Ajit Rangnekar, Dean, ISB.

It will initially accommodate over 50 students on part time basis for six-month certificate course. The class work will be for four days every month taking it to 200 hours of class work.