Coca-Cola's Indian unit

Coca-Cola's Indian unit

NEW DELHI (AFP): India cleared a plan by Coca-Cola Co. to invest 700 million dollars and set up two fully-owned subsidiaries, a government spokesman said Saturday.

"The company has said it would sell off 49 percent of shares in the subsidiaries to Indian shareholders within a period of four to five years," the spokesman said.

Coca-Cola resumed its operations in India in 1993 after leaving the country in 1977, when it was ordered to dilute its equity to 40 percent or divulge its "secret formula".

Indians consume about 2.67 million bottles of soft drinks annually and the soda pop market is estimated to be worth 500 million dollars and growing at an annual rate of 15 percent.

The spokesman said four power projects with foreign investments worth 1.4 billion dollars were also cleared by the government.