Advocates press Coca-Cola on destructive practices in India

Today, Coca-Cola company held its annual shareholders meeting in Atlanta. Coca-Cola generated $8.2 billion in profits last year. In India – a country the company calls a key emerging market - sales increased by 21 percent in the last quarter of 2009. But critics say this growth has a tremendous price on the local communities and the environment, where the company oversees more than forty bottling plants and is the largest domestic buyer of sugar. Last month, a government committee in Kerala found that Coca-Cola should be held liable for $48 million in damages and was responsible for residents' health problems and water pollution.

These issues were brought to the shareholders meeting today by Amit Srivastava, coordinator with the India Resource Center, an advocacy organization that monitors globalization in India. He joins us by mobile phone in Atlanta.

India Resource Center: http://www.indiaresource.org/index.html

Coca-Cola Company: http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/ourcompany/ar/downloads.html