Geography Revision Blog: Case Study: Coca Cola, India

Case Study: Coca Cola, India

In India there are 27 company owned bottling operations and another 17 franchise-owned ones
In the year 2000 a subsidiary of the Atlanta based Coca-cola company established a plant in Plachimada, in the Palakkad district of Kerala, southern India.
17% of the worlds population is in India, but less than 4% of the worlds freshwater is in India

Coca-cola drew around 510,000 litres of water each day from boreholes and open wells.
In the time that Coke has been operating in Kerala, India, water tables have decreased form 12 m to 35 m below ground level (takes 3.8 L of water to make 1 L of coca-Cola
Coke has been excluded of draining local water aquifer, leaving subsistence farmers with no water sources
Harvest dropped by 40% because the fields are not irrigated properly
Wells are almost empty - local villages now have to walk nearly 5 km twice a day to fetch water
Villages reported that the little water left was undrinkable and when used for bathing it burned their eyes and lead to skin problems

The investment of Coke in India has been blamed for the decline of traditional fruit juices vendors

Coca-cola have improved their water use efficiency by 14% since 2004 and state they are continuing to invest in new innovations and plant processes to help make even more improvements
Coca-Cola say they have replenished approximately 93% of the groundwater they use through the creation of rainwater harvesting structures, restoration of ponds and traditional water bodies and interventions focused on improving water use efficiency in agriculture
Coca-Cola has invested in water harvesting schemes in India; they state actual recharge have been 5 times what they extract from the ground
For Example, Coca-cola have installed more than 500 rainwater harvesting structures in 22 states, and this year they donated over $1,000,000 (US) to support the revival of Nemam Lake a 1000 acre lake in Tamil Nadu.