Coca Cola to invest $2 bn in India

Coca-Cola Co, the world's largest soft-drink maker, will invest $2 billion in India in five years to 2017 to expand its non-alcoholic, ready-to-drink market - an amount equal to what it has spent in the past 18 years in the country.

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Coca-Cola India and its bottling partners plan to invest in consumer marketing and brand building, expansion of distribution and cold drink equipment placement and development of manufacturing capacity, it said in a statement.

Coca-Cola currently employs about 25,000 people in India, the world's second-fastest growing major economy, the statement said.

The company, which gets the majority of its sales from outside the United States, said last month that foreign exchange rates that boosted its profit in the third quarter would turn against the company in the fourth quarter as the US dollar strengthens.

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Reuters