Coca-Cola and SBI ink pact for Digital Solutions & Literacy Initiative
Posted on: 04/Jan/2017 2:39:21 PM
Coca-Cola India (CCI), Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt Ltd (HCCBPL) and State Bank of India (SBI), today announced a strategic partnership to enable 2.6 million retailers and 5000 distributors to conduct business transactions digitally. As part of this partnership, training sessions will also be arranged to help small retailers enhance their digital skills and understand the benefits of adopting cashless transactions.
The two companies today signed an MoU, by which retailers can open a current account in any SBI with Corporate Net banking (CINB) facility. Then, the retailers would be trained by SBI’s authorized trainers along with Coca-Cola, on new and evolving digital business transaction solutions and initiated into SBI’s digital payment options such as Buddy P2P, Buddy Merchant App, SBI Pay etc.
Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony, Ms. Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairperson, State Bank of India said, “We are happy to announce this joint endeavour by two leading organisations in response to our Hon`ble Prime Minister`s vision for a ‘Digital India’. Our digital payment platforms such as Buddy, SBI Pay and State Bank Collect, provide customers easy-to-use and convenient modes of transactions. They also act as the tip of the spear for on boarding consumers and merchants to our larger range of financial products.”
Mr. T. Krishnakumar, CEO, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Pvt. Ltd. & Regional Director – South Asia, said “We recognize and support the Government’s vision of “Digital India” centeredon making India a digitally empowered economy. We have been forerunners in the digital solution space and while all of our payment to Suppliers and more than 90% of our collections from our partners are digitized, we propose to extend this facility to every retailer in the marketplace. Our partnership with SBI is a step forward in this direction. The digital payment solutions in business transactions will help further strengthen our retail chain ecosystem covering over 2.6 million retailers and 5000 distributors and will substantially reduce the dependence on cash. There is huge potential in e-commerce and m-commerce space, and this partnership between HCCBPL and SBI will go a long way in capitalizing on these fast growing opportunities”.
Mr. Venkatesh Kini, President, Coca-Cola India and South West Asia said, “, “As India moves towards digitization, it is critical that the country’s un-organised retail sector adopt digital payment systems which will provide them an opportunity to further grow their businesses. To bridge the digital gap for small retailers we have partnered with State Bank of India. This will empower and equip small retailer businesses move from cash based to digital transactions which has the potential benefit of making payments more secure and transparent. The inclusion of this new module in our ongoing Parivartan training program, will help retailersto acclimate to digital payments effectively to increase their money management and business skills while establishing a strong foundation for economic development.”
“HCCBPL and CCIPL will leverage “Coca-Cola University on Wheels” (CCU) under its “Parivartan” program to train the retailers and distributors on handling digital payments. The training will integrate SBI’s developed digital payments module into the training capsule. Additionally, HCCBPBPL, SBI and CCIPL will create a customized payment solution for retailers and distributors selling Coca-Cola products in India.”
About Coca-Cola India
Coca-Cola India is one of the country’s leading beverage companies, offering a range of healthy, safe, high quality, refreshing beverage options to consumers. Since its re-entry in 1993, the company has been refreshing consumers with its beverage products - Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero, Diet Coke, Thums Up, Fanta, Fanta Green Mango, Limca, Sprite, Sprite Zero, Maaza, VIO flavoured milk ‘Almond Delight’ and ‘Kesar Delight’, Minute Maid range of juices, FUZE Iced tea, Georgia and Georgia gold range of hot and cold tea and coffee options, Schweppes, Kinley and Bonaqua packaged drinking water and Kinley Club Soda. The Company along with its bottling partners, through a strong network of over 2.6 million retail outlets, touches the lives of millions of consumers, at a rate of more than 500 servings per second. Its brands are some of the most preferred and most sold beverages in the country – Thums Up and Sprite – being the top two selling sparkling beverages.
The Coca-Cola India system provides direct employment to 25,000 people and indirect employment to more than 150,000 people. The Coca-Cola system in India is contributing in its own small way to building sustainable communities through community initiatives like Support My School, VEER, Parivartan and Unnati and by reducing its own environmental footprint. For further information on the company`s India operations and its products, please visit: www.coca-colaindia.com. Follow us on twitter at twitter.com/CocaCola_Ind, or on facebook.
