Pepsico and Coca Cola are fizzing with controversy in India after an NGO found higher level of pesticide residues in their samples.

So what exactly is this controversy? Do I drink Colas anymore? Will this incident affect FDI into India? And, what is the future of these cola companies?

There’s this NGO in New Delhi called the Center for Science and Environment (CSE) that did some tests on colas in the market and found that pesticide residues in Coca-Cola and PepsiCo brands were 24 times higher than new safety standards on soft drinks that have been developed by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

Following this report, some states went ahead and banned these colas in Government Institutions. Communist ruled Kerala even went as far as banning the production.

However, this controversy is not new. The same CSE had found such things in these colas a few years earlier too.

Yes, I do. Has anyone actually tested what is the level of pesticides in water and milk that we drink or other things we eat?

Ever since this controversy popped up (no pun intended), one thing which I have heard again and again is that this controversy will hurt India’s reputation as a safe place for investment. Even US government has intervened and warned about the same thing.

What do I think about it? Like I said above, I have absolutely no issues about drinking colas myself even after the whole incident.

And while I don’t like how some state governments have tried to ban colas at colleges and schools but this exact opinion that this incident will hurt India as an Investment Destination is nothing but an attempt by Pepsico and Coca Cola to find a passage out of this issue by creating FUD.

If China is a good place to invest then India is an utopia compared to China!

If you are an Investor then your objective should not be to keep personal score but rather find each and every opportunity to make money and seize it. And there is an obscene amount of money to be made in India.

This is a controversy which took place earlier too but, guess what, India has seen a record bull run and FII money in record numbers recently.

So, I am not really losing my sleep over the incident.

Pretty bright. Yeah, it is more like a commodity rather than a luxury. The only way that the consumption has to go is us. Why?

1. People don’t like change. If they have a habit of having colas then nearly all will keep doing it.

2. People tend to forget pretty quickly.

3. No alternative is “easy”. Every other natural alternative — tea, lemonade etc. — requires some preparation. People are lazy by nature so they are going to prefer to just open the bottle and drink it.

Bottom line is that colas are here to stay and it is only matter of time before people forget about this whole issue.