Coke may stop operations in Kerala

Bangalore: Coca Cola India has said that it may consider closing down or relocating its plant at Plachimada in Kerala.

The operations of the plant have been temporarily suspended till the monsoon sets in following a direction from the State Government.

A top company official said on condition of anonymity that a decision on the future of the plant will be taken shortly, and the company was not ruling out the possibility of shutting down.

Blaming the State Government for indecisiveness, the official said: "The State thinks the project is a goldmine for us and we won''t leave. It is not. We have lost a lot of money in the last one-and-a-half years, and frankly, we are tired. Kerala accounts for less than one per cent of our national sales. The company said that it has received an invitation from Tamil Nadu to relocate the plant.

It said that any decision by the company to pull out could hit Kerala''s plans in attracting foreign investment. "We are expected to resume operations in June and will look for an agreement with the State before doing that," the official said while explaining that State was yet to honour commitments on water and power connections made at the time of inviting investment.