11th February, 2016

Hindustan Coca-Cola is one of the leading manufacturing companies in India which operates several bottling Plants that manufacture non-alcoholic ready to drink beverages. Like with any other manufacturing organization, we are going through a process of consolidation where new state-of-the art facilities are being built and existing production capacities are being optimized. These decisions are taken in keeping with Plant capacity utilization considerations, based on the market demands and projections. A Plant’s capacity also becomes viable or unviable depending on the availability of raw materials.

With regard to specific questions on our Kaladera Plant in Rajasthan, India, while we have currently suspended manufacturing, we are continuing with all other operations at Kaladera. We also retain the license to produce at this Plant, which is testimony to the fact that should there be a change in demand and volume, we may utilize this latent capacity at the Kaladera Plant.

Some news reports have also referenced a report by TERI in the context of a the local aquifer at Kaladera being stressed. We must add that the TERI report being referred to, was instituted by The Coca-Cola Company and the study was conducted under the mediation of the Meridian Institue, US. The report clearly establishes that the Kaladera Plant in Rajasthan, is a “miniscule user” of water from the local aquifer, tapping much less than a percent of the area’s available water.

Nonetheless, as a responsible corporate citizen, we have been working towards being a net positive contributor to the availability of water in the aquifer. We have extensively undertaken rain water harvesting initiatives in the area and we renew the maintenance contract of rain water harvesting structures year-on-year.

In addition to the above, given the enormity of use of water in agriculture, we have supported 523 drip irrigation projects in the area covering over 261 hectares of agricultural land through a three way partnership involving farmers, government and the Company. This is yet another example of our commitment to the local community in areas that we operate. We remain committed to working with the local community on the rain water harvesting work that we have been doing since 2003.