New Delhi, Oct. 3 :    New Delhi, Oct. 3:  Coca-Cola India is building up a strong case for the waiver of a clause in the foreign collaboration agreement under which Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Ltd (HCCB), the wholly owned bottling subsidiary of the Atlanta-based cola major, will have to divest a 49 per cent stake in favour of resident shareholders, including the public. HCCB had applied to the government seeking a waiver of the divestment clause in the approval granted to the company for setting up downstream ventures, under which it will have to ensure 49 per cent Indian participation by July next year. The company's plea will be taken up by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) at its meeting on Thursday. Pending the decision on the request for the waiver of the divestment clause itself, Coca-Cola has asked the FIPB to extend the deadline for Indian participation by five years, till July 2007. The Rs 3,200-crore Coca-Cola India has urged the government to waive the clause, citing accumulated losses of over Rs 2,100 crore incurred by HCCB in the 2000-01 fiscal. Moreover, the huge loss posted by the company means it cannot meet the three-year profitability criteria laid down by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). According to the Sebi guidelines, a company should have distributable profits for at least three years, in the five years immediately preceding its public issue. Coca Cola has also argued that the government has generally done away with the divestment requirement unless specifically asked for by the concerned ministry. 'This is one of the reasons why the company has requested the government for a waiver of the divestment clause for HCCB,' a company spokesperson said. Coca Cola operates in 204 countries and almost all are run as wholly-owned subsidiaries of the cola giant, since very few nations have equity holding restrictions. In India, it operates 27 wholly owned bottling plants, in addition to 17 franchisee-operated plants. The Coca Cola India spokesperson said the company hopes to break even this year and wipe out its cumulative losses by 2005-06. So far, Coca Cola has invested about $ 800 million in its Indian operations.