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Seeking to push Indian brands, a section of Tamil Nadu trader organisations have reportedly asked their members to stop selling popular soft drinks and mineral water made by multinational companies from March 1 including Coca Cola and Pepsi products. According to a report in The Hindu newspaper, Tamil Nadu Vanigar Sangangalin Peramaipu President AM Vikramaraja was of the opinion that the trade associations will spend the entire month of February in educating the traders regarding the “evils” of these foreign brands. “They cause more harm than good to the body. Only recently, one of the brands had admitted to the fact that it was not suitable for children and that it contained certain harmful chemicals,” Vikramaraja said in an interview to The Hindu.

WATCH VIDEO | To Push Indian Brands, Tamil Nadu Trader Organisations To Stop Selling Coca Cola, Pepsi From March 1

A report in The News Minute earlier said that during the recent Jallikattu protests at Marina Beach, several agitators had demanded a ban on these products claiming these companies were using the state’s water bodies to manufacture aerated drinks. The head of the Tamil Nadu Traders Federation, Vellaiyan, in an interview to The News Minute, said that the trade associations do not have the authority to ban the products, so they are telling traders not to sell them. “Many reports have found that such products contain pesticides and are poisonous to one’s health. It is the government’s duty to ban these products, but since it is unwilling to do so, we decided to do it (not sell it),” Vellaiyan said. The trade associations, as per the reports, will also be asking the hotels and restaurants in the state to stop selling soft drinks made by MNCs.

According to data collected by Nielsen, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo control approximately 80 per cent of the soft drink market in India. Coca-Cola in October 2016 announced that sale of their soft drink products went down by 4 per cent in Q3 after the introduction of a range of non-fizzy healthy beverages in the market such as packaged lassi, aam panna, etc.

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