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P.T. Jyothi Datta
Richa Mishra

New Delhi , Aug. 8

IS the soft drink controversy over pesticides in colas having its repercussion back home in the US? Officials from both the US-based companies, Coca Cola and PepsiCo did have a meeting with the US embassy in the Capital, here on Friday, to apprise them of the ongoing controversy and "take stock of the situation".

The US embassy spokesperson told Business Line that officials from the companies had a "working level" meeting with embassy officials to ascertain details on the controversy.

While the meeting was "customary", in that embassies interact with their people and companies in a foreign land - today's meeting was a fall-out of the soft drink controversy.

It is not clear whether the companies had sought a meeting with the embassy and had in fact "flown in lobbyists" to build pressure for their stand, as indicated by corporate grapevine.

However, the official said that, "The embassy is not engaging in any intervention with the Indian Government on the controversy. The US embassy only wants a level-playing field for its companies and that they be treated on the same parallel with Indian laws."

Industry sources pointed out that the agenda of the meeting was also to see whether the cola companies in India meet the European Union norms. The companies have, in the past, reiterated that they meet both EU and the US FDA norms.

However, industry insiders fear that the ongoing controversy may lead to US companies taking flight to China - lock, stock and investments.

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