Nepal: Protests forces Pepsi to hold expansion

Maoists protesters forced virtual shutdown of the Pepsi bottling plant owned by Ravi Jaipuria Group.

Maoists protesters forced virtual shutdown of the Pepsi bottling plant owned by India’s Ravi Jaipuria Group,demanding pay hike,in an re-emergence of threats to Indian owned industry.

The agitation by the Maoists has also forced the Indian company to put on hold expansion plans in the country after Maoists affiliated trade unions forced halting of operations in the factory.

After shutting down petrol pumps across the country for five days,and threatening to shut down hotels,the pro-Maoist trade union has now targeted multinational companies like Varun Beverage,that produces Pepsi.

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The Maoist backed trade union activists have demanded hike in salary and allowances from the management of Pepsi and stopped the manufacturing plant of Pepsi since last Friday.

After the incident Indian national Ravi Jaipuria,chairman of R J Corps that owns Varun Beverage,had to rush to Kathmandu from New Delhi to resolve the labour problem.

The Maoist workers firstly,didn’t allow him to enter his own factory in Bhaktapur district in the east of Kathmandu. A frustrated Jaipuria told reporters he has put on hold new investment plans till the labour situation improves.

R J Corps has just launched KFC and Pizza Hut in Kathmandu and have expansion plans. The KFC was a hot cake as during the opening,nearly one hundred people queued outside the restaurant situated at Durbarmarg just to go inside the restaurant and taste the food.