Chooses to highlight the company’s focus on women employment as the key theme

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB), one of India’s top FMCG companies, will celebrate its 23rd anniversary tomorrow and what has made the celebration special is a unique sand sculpture created by the internationally acclaimed artist, Sudarsan Patnaik. The Padma Shri awardee has chosen HCCB’s focus on gender diversity and employment of women at important positions at its 15 factories, as the theme of the sand sculpture.

HCCB’s focus on generating employment for women seems to have made a deep impression on Shri Patnaik for him to choose this theme as the biggest standout of HCCB’s 23-year journey in India. For example, HCCB’s newest factory in Sanand in Gujarat employs more than 40% women. This includes the Company’s first women forklift operator, its first lady electrician and the world’s first lady operator of the Plasmax machine. The women employees at HCCB are defying conventional beliefs and have become examples for others in their neighbourhood. For a very large employer like HCCB, its percentage of women employees already ranges in double digits.

In his art Shri Patnaik has also given prominence to the lady forklift operators at the HCCB factories. Operating forklifts and heavy vehicles have always been considered a domain for men. To showcase HCCB as one of India’s original ‘Make in India’ success stories, Shri Patnaik has sculpted a huge bottling line that criss-crosses the entire frame and has a consistent presence from all angles.