Coca-Cola's bottling unit in India hikes salaries despite coronavirus impact on sales

Coca-Cola's company-owned bottling partner Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages has made an unusual announcement amid the coronavirus pandemic. While companies across the map are practising job cuts and salary cuts, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) will be giving its 7,000 direct employees a 7-8 per cent salary increment that will come into effect from April 1, 2020.

"The merit increase (annual increment) is for all employees of HCCB and a function of several factors including employee performance in the preceding year," a company spokesperson said in an email. .

The company has also said that there will be no lay-off or salary reductions because of the disruption caused by coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown. The company would be following the same compensation norms as it did in 2019, according to the spokesperson.

The impact of the disruption caused by coronavirus pandemic is expected to be huge on Coca-Cola.

In a post-earnings investors call last week, CEO of Coca-Cola James Quincey said that in some markets like India, the stern implementation of social distancing measures has resulted in lower consumption levels.

Coca-Cola's unit case volume declined by 5 per cent across its bottling investment group in all its world markets for the January-March quarter. This decline was driven by lower levels of consumption in India, according to Coca-Cola.

HCCB has 15 factories across India. Popular beverages such as Coke, Sprite, Thums Up are made in these plants.

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