Venkatesh Kini in New Delhi on Friday. Picture by Yasir Iqbal

New Delhi, Sept. 19: US beverage giant Coca-Cola is scouting for locations and talking to various state governments to set up bottling plants in the country.

At present, the company has 58 plants in India.

“We are always scouting for locations to set up plants. However, at present, we cannot name any specific location where we are planning to open a new plant next. We started three new plants last year, out of which two are in Uttar Pradesh and one is in Karnataka, they are all greenfield projects,” Venkatesh Kini, president (India & South West Asia), said.

He added that the company remained committed towards the $5-billion investment in India till 2020. “We are happy to say that we are on track for that (investment).”

On the Varanasi bottling plant, Kini said, “We remain committed towards the state. We have 11 plants in Uttar Pradesh and we are working with the state government to locate a new location for the bottling unit.”

Last month, Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages, had announced that it would shelve the plan to expand the facility in Varanasi citing “inordinate delay” in receiving clearance for the project from the Central Ground Water Authority.

In 2012, the Atlanta-based beverages giant, along with its partners, had announced that it would more than double is investments in India to around Rs 28,000 crore by 2020.

The beverage major has also expressed interest in starting a bottling plant on 60 acres at the Sitarganj industrial estate at Kumaon, Uttarakhand.

The company is also keen on a new facility in Telangana at a cost Rs 1,000 crore and has sought land for it.

The company today launched a sugar- free soft drink called Coca-Cola Zero, which is available in all it top six markets — the US, Mexico, China, Brazil and Japan, besides India.