- Beverage giant Coca Cola, Pepsico, and Nestle India has scaled down or temporarily suspended their activities across their units amid corona scare.
Beverage manufacturer Coca-Cola said Tuesday it temporarily halted production at its manufacturing facilities following the government’s shutdown to prevent COVID-19 from spreading.
But as per government guidelines, it will continue to manufacture essential beverages such as wine, juices, tea, and coffee, in a restricted manner.
Nestle India also said all activities are scaled down or suspended in some places. The organization said that continuing operations in factories and distribution centers where operations were suspended is in negotiation with authorities.
In view of the shutdown triggered by the coronavirus outbreak, Pepsico’s bottling company Varun Beverages has also halted production at its production facilities.
Coca-Cola said in a statement, “We at the Coca-Cola company in India have temporarily halted production at our manufacturing facilities in compliance with the government order.”
Source- Business Standard
Although the company is “operating our manufacturing facilities in a very limited number in compliance with the regulations of the local government and the health of all our employees” for the necessary beverages, it said.
Varun Beverages, PepsiCo India’s bottling partner, said in a regulatory filing, “In view of the lockdown in several states / Union territories across the country, manufacturing and distribution facilities have been temporarily shut down and will be operated in compliance with local guidelines.” The length of this lockdown is’ uncertain at this point in time and will depend on directives ‘ issued.
“The potential adverse effect on the company’s activities is therefore not readily assessable,” he said. In the aftermath of the coronavirus outbreak, a total of 32 states and union territories have announced full lockdown affecting 560 districts so far.
According to Health Ministry data, nearly 500 coronavirus cases have been reported in India so far.
On Monday, Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) firm Dabur India Ltd said it has temporarily suspended operations at around 60 percent to 70 percent of its manufacturing units in India as it is grappling with a strict lockdown in the country that has disrupted the movement of people and products here.
The Vatika hair oil manufacturer and Real Juices have 12 manufacturing units in India, to be sure.
In the public interest, the company said it would continue operating units supplying important items such as Ayurvedic medicines, Chyawanprash, hand sanitizers, and hand washings.
After the tech industry, the travel industry, the automobile industry facing the burn of coronavirus outbreak, now FMCG and beverage giants are also getting affected by it. The economy is taking a bad hit and that too during the closure of the financial year which has been extended now in order to support the businesses. We hope this calamity ends soon and everything is back on track like normal.
