PepsiCo India witnessed robust growth in the first half of the year despite unseasonal rains and delayed onset of Summers in some parts of the country. The snacks and beverage maker, which has committed investments of ₹5,700 crore till 2030, is looking at establishing a food manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu after recently commissioning a flavour manufacturing facility in Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking at the sidelines of a FICCI event, Jagrut Kotecha, Chief Executive Officer, PepsiCo India & South Asia, told businessline, “The first half has been good and we saw broad-based growth across portfolios spanning both rural and urban regions. As far as the second half is concerned, I know there are uncertainties but I think that consumption is still robust; we have not seen any signals of a consumption slowdown. Of course, we will need to monitor monsoons to see how rural develops, but we remain cautiously optimistic about the second half of the year.”
Asked about the impact on packaging costs due to fresh geopolitical uncertainties in West Asia, Kotecha said, “Those kinds of pressure-points remain depending on how circumstance evolve, but I think the whole ecosystem has also evolved over the past few months. We will keep monitoring the situation.”
Priority market
Stating India is among the key priority markets for PepsiCo, Kotecha said that the company has been making significant investments in expanding the company’s manufacturing footprint over the past few years.
Recently, the company commissioned its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, which has been set up with an investment of ₹1,266 crore. It will manufacture concentrates for its beverage portfolio. Kotecha said that out of PepsiCo’s nine such facilities globally, two are now located in India.
Talking about future expansion plans, Kotecha said that the company will be next investing in Tamil Nadu, where it has secured land to establish a facility for the foods business.
In its global earnings, PepsiCo said India business witnessed strong volume growth in both snacks and beverages; India was among the key markets that contributed to international business’ organic revenue growth in the Q2 CY26.