Page 22 - Plastics News August 2018

COMPANY NEWS

Delhi HC does not find 'plastic' in Indian Oil adjudged ‘Overall

PepsiCo Kurkure Best Maharatna’ bags two other

he Delhi High court have passed the order in favour awards
Tof PepsiCo denying presence of any types of plastics ndian Oil Corporation Ltd. has won three awards
in its brand Kurkure, a corn puff snack. The soft drink
Iat the Dun & Bradstreet PSU Awards-2018,
JLDQW ÀOHG D GHIDPDWLRQ FDVH RQ 0D\ LQ WKH Mr. A. K. Sharma, Director (Finance), received the
Delhi High Court against Facebook, YouTube and Twitter,
for posting "Rumours" that PepsiCo products, Kurkure in awards from noted economist Mr. Bibek Debroy,
particular, contain plastic in their ingredients, and further Chairman, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime
demanding Rs Minister and Member NITI Aayog. The categories in
2.10 crore in which IndianOil has won the award are: Petroleum-
damages. Two 5HÀQLQJ 0DUNHWLQJ %HVW SHUIRUPLQJ 0DKDUDWQD
orders from in Manufacturing (Processing and Generation) and
the high court, Overall Best Maharatna. Dun & Bradstreet (D&B),
dated 1 June the world’s leading provider of global business
and 23 June, information, recognised the PSUs who are the
2018, directed front-runners in their respective sectors through the
that all URLs/
weblinks that directly or indirectly implied that Kurkure
contained plastic have to be removed immediately. In its
petition, PepsiCo has given a list of 3,412 Facebook links,
20,244 Facebook posts, 242 YouTube videos, 6 Instagram
links, and 562 tweets that it claimed were "disparaging and
defamatory" in nature. "Rumours" that PepsiCo products,
Kurkure in particular, contain plastic in their ingredients
have been doing the rounds for many years. Despite that,
revenue earned from annual sales only seem to go up. As ¶368 $ZDUGV · 7KH ÀIWK HGLWLRQ RI WKH DZDUGV
SHU 3HSVL&R V VWDWHG HDUQLQJV LQ WKH SHWLWLRQ WKH\ ÀOHG acknowledged the stellar performance and imperative
Kurkure India earned Rs 601 crore in 2010, Rs 885 crore in role played by the leading PSUs in the socio-economic
2013, and Rs 1159.3 crore until September of 2015, with development of the country. Highlighting the
sales increasing in the intermediary years as well. contribution of the PSU sector in India, Mr. Manish
Sinha, MD, Dun & Bradstreet India, commented, “In
The petition states that the company is concerned about recent years there has been an extensive narrative
the good reputation of its brand being maligned by what on ‘responsible and inclusive capitalism’. This
it calls the "false and disparaging propaganda against approach to business serves customers, employees
Kurkure".PepsiCo claims its petition is a concerted effort
and society, in addition to shareholders. Indian PSUs
WR ÀJKW IDNH QHZV 7KH P\WK WKDW .XUNXUH FRQWDLQV SODVWLF have been embodying this philosophy before this
has been proven untrue over a period of time. Kurkure, like
vocabulary existed. Many PSUs were created after
DQ\ RWKHU VQDFN PDGH IURP ULFH DQG SDSDG ZLOO EXUQ :H independence and in the decades that followed, have
are concerned with fake news continuing to spread," said
Sandipan Ghatak, a corporate communications associate at supported India’s self-reliant economic growth and
PepsiCo India. Since the rumours began in 2013, PepsiCo balanced regional development. It is a credit to them
says in the petition that the company has taken proactive that they have delivered these socially desirable
steps to dispel misinformation, such as hosting public tours outcomes despite many challenges: shortage of
of their factories to show just how the product is made, as talent and non-commercial targets. Dun & Bradstreet
well as widely publicising disclaimers and public notices celebrates India’s Top PSUs 2018 to acknowledge their
disclosing all ingredients that go into making Kurkure. contribution to the Indian economy.

Plastics News August 2018 22