SCDRC orders PepsiCo India to pay Rs 50 lakh to competition winner

Food and beverage major Pepsico India Holdings Pvt Ltd's consolidated profit for FY22 declined 76.25 per cent to Rs 41.63 crore, while its revenue from operations went up 21.61 per cent to Rs 6,385.80 crore.

The company, which is not a publicly traded corporation, made a total profit of Rs 175.3 crore and its income from operations was at Rs 5,251 crore for the financial year that ended on March 31, 2021, according to financial records accessed by the business intelligence portal Tofler.

Pepsico India Holdings' other income in FY22 was down 27 per cent at Rs 82.34 crore.

While the company's overall revenue, which includes sales of well-known brands like Pepsi, Lay's, Kurkure, and Tropicana, increased by 20.58% to Rs 6,468.14 crore for the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2022.

In response to PTI's inquiry, a PepsiCo India representative stated that the company had robust double-digit growth in both operating revenue and volume for FY22, despite inflation.

The entire tax charge for Pepsico India Holdings increased by 58.32% to Rs 36.89 crore in FY22, while overall expenses increased by 23.7% to Rs 6,389.62 crore.

PepsiCo began doing business in India in 1989 and has since expanded to become one of the biggest MNC food and beverage companies there.

In FY22, the company's beverage division revenue increased 10.61% to Rs 1,014 crore.

While its food category revenue increased by about 24% to Rs 5,371.80 billion.

PepsiCo India Holding reported export revenue of Rs 106.14 crore in FY22, an increase of 2.58 percent. A year ago, it was worth Rs 103.47 crore.

The business kept spending money in FY22 on both customer-facing activations and expanding capacity for future expansion.

PepsiCo India is "strongly poised" to take advantage of the rising consumer demand in the future as it continues to invest in the nation, diversifies its product offerings to meet shifting consumer preferences, expands operations, and further boosts consumer touch points, particularly in the wake of the Covid pandemic.

In addition, the spokesperson stated, "We shall continue our community efforts through our commitment to being PepsiCo positive, a strategic end-to-end transformation initiative with sustainability at the centre to create growth and value by operating within planetary boundaries and inspiring positive change for the planet and people.

PepsiCo India will be investing Rs 514 crore over the next three years to build a greenfield snacks manufacturing plant in Uttar Pradesh (UP).

The move is in line with the food and beverage maker’s plan to double its snacking business that includes brands like Kurkure and Lays in India by 2022.

Ahmed ElSheikh, President and CEO, PepsiCo India, said, "PepsiCo is committed to growing its food and beverage business sustainably in India. We have a long relationship with the people of Uttar Pradesh. As we look to double our snacks business over the next few years, we intend to invest Rs.514 crores approx. to expand our footprint in Uttar Pradesh."

"Agriculture is at the heart of PepsiCo and our farmer friends are the backbone of our business. As we expand our operations, we will look forward to a fruitful association that will not only help create jobs and enable ancillary industries, but also ensures the socio-economic progress of potato farmers in the state," he added.

The new UP plant will be creating 1,500 direct and indirect jobs.

PepsiCo sells Tropicana, 7Up, Mountain Dew and Kurkure. In order to address shifting consumer needs, the company has been looking to grow its business beyond sugary drinks. As a result, the brand is lining up new flavours and region-specific variants in its popular Lays and Kurkure brand of salty snacks.

PepsiCo India has introduced a new packaging format of takeaway glass bottles across its carbonated beverage portfolio in Maharashtra. The move is part of the company's strategy to focus on recyclable packaging formats.

The new glass packaging will be available in 250 ml packs priced at Rs 20. It will cover the beverage company's Pepsi, Pepsi Black, Mountain Dew, 7UP and Mirinda brands.

Vishal Kaul, Vice-President, Beverage Category, PepsiCo India, said, "We are delighted to launch the first-ever range of carbonated beverages in takeaway glass bottles."

"We are committed to making it easier for consumers to choose their favourite PepsiCo beverage brands through category-leading innovation, new packaging formats and choices for different consumption occasions. This new range is another reiteration of our effort of delivering on-the-go, convenient packaging format that is affordable and is recyclable," he added.

The new range of takeaway glass bottles will be in addition to the existing classic returnable glass bottles and other packaging formats across the company's portfolio.

Beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo India has made a profit in 2017-18 after a gap of seven years. The profit was driven by cost-efficiency measures, high-margin products and higher capacity utilization.

PepsiCo has reported a net profit of Rs 190 crore in 2017-18. The company posted a loss of Rs 148 crore a year previously. The last profit PepsiCo reported was in 2010-11. The beverage company exited the fourth quarter of 2017-18 with double-digit growth momentum.

Rajdeep Datta Gupta, Chief Financial Officer of PepsiCo India, said, "Focus on profitable channels, packs and innovation, cost management and productivity to offset inflation, local agriculture programmes and procurement for citrus and corn, and maximising capacity utilisation were factors that brought balanced growth."

PepsiCo launched 80 products and variants, including flavours, pack sizes and packaging between 2015 and 2018. Out of its products, Lay's, Kurkure, Quaker and Doritos were the key growth drivers. The new high-margin products like Pepsi Black and energy drink Sting also showed 'encouraging results'.

New York-based Purchase's India unit said in 2016 that it was taking a three-year reset to transform its portfolio for sustainable and profitable growth. It has rationalised its portfolio for operational productivity as well as reinvested in marketing expenses.

"Higher capacity utilisation is helping leverage cost lines. Strong cost-management is offsetting the inflation that we are seeing," Gupta said.

स्थानीय बाजार में अपनी उपस्थिति को मजबूत करने के लिए पेप्सिको इंडिया के नमकीन स्नैक्स डिवीजन ने अपने लोकप्रिय ब्रांड कुरकुरे के तहत तीन नए स्वाद लॉन्च किए हैं। कुरकुरे ट्विस्टकेन, एक बेक्ड नमकीन, तीन स्वादों में आता है। यह लोकप्रिय क्षेत्रीय स्नैक्स बीकानेरी भुजिया, आंध्र के मुरुक्कु और शाही स्वादयुक्त नमकीन के समान स्वाद के साथ विकसित किया गया है। पेप्सिको ने कहा कि भारतीय पारंपरिक नमकीनों के स्वाद को बनाए रखने के लिए एक आधुनिक प्रारूप विकसित करने के लिए, उसने अपनी वैश्विक और स्थानीय आर एंड डी टीमों के साथ काम किया है।

स्नैक्स श्रेणी के उपाध्यक्ष जग्रत कोटेचा, पेप्सिको इंडिया ने कहा, "हमें विश्वास है कि नया लॉन्च अगले पांच सालों में हमारे नमकीन स्नैक्स व्यवसाय को दोगुना करने के अपने लक्ष्य को हासिल करने में सक्षम बनाने में महत्वपूर्ण भूमिका निभाएगा। हम इसे बनाने की सोच रहे हैं। पारंपरिक स्नैक्स को फिर से कल्पना करने और उन्हें कम नमक सामग्री के साथ आधुनिक और सुविधाजनक प्रारूप में पेश करने की रणनीति का पालन करके कुरकुरे ट्विस्टकेन के माध्यम से नमकीन स्नैक्स सेगमेंट में एक नई श्रेणी लाई जाएगी।"दो प्रकारों में उपलब्ध होने के कारण, स्नैक्स 18 राज्यों में बेचे जाएंगे। नए उत्पादों का निर्माण पुणे और महाराष्ट्र में पेप्सिको के स्नैक विनिर्माण सुविधा में किया जाता है।

In a bid to strengthen its presence in the local market, PepsiCo India's salty snacks division has launched three new flavours under its popular brand Kurkure. 

Kurkure Twistkeen, a baked namkeen, comes in three flavors. It is developed in line with tastes and flavours similar to popular regional snacks Bikaneri bhujia, Andhra’s murukku and Shahi flavoured namkeens.

PepsiCo said that for developing a modern format retaining the flavour of Indian traditional namkeens, it has worked with its global and local R&D teams.

Jagrut Kotecha, Vice-President for Snacks Category, PepsiCo India, said, "We believe the new launch will play a critical role in enabling us to achieve our goal of doubling our salty snacks business over the next five years. We are looking to create a new category in the salty snacks segment through Kurkure Twistkeen by following a strategy of re-imagining traditional snacks and offering them in a modern and convenient format with low salt content."

Being available in two variants, the snacks will be sold across 18 states. The new products are manufactured at PepsiCo's snacks manufacturing facility in Pune and Maharashtra. 

अगले दो साल में पेप्सिको इंडिया महाराष्ट्र के सभी 36 जिलों में बिक्री हुई बोतलों को क्रश करने हेतु मशीनें लगाएगी। इन मशीनों का उपयोग पीईटी प्लास्टिक को क्रश करने के लिए किया जाएगा।

कम्पनी ने यह कदम प्लास्टिक वेस्ट मैनेजमेंट के तहत उठाया। इस कदम के तहत फ़ूड व बैवरेज फर्म राज्य में 6500 टन बोतलें इकट्ठी कर उन्हें पृथक कर रिसाइकल करने का उदेश्य रखे है। 

नीलिमा दिवेदी पेप्सिको की वाइस प्रेजिडेंट ने कहा हम राज्य के सभी 36 जिलों में अगले दो वर्षों में प्लास्टिक वेस्ट मैनेजमेंट के तहत रोल आउट करने की योजना बना रहे हैं। 

अहमद ई शेख, प्रेज़ीडेंट पेप्सिको इंडिया ने कहा, " कम्पनी सरकार की सोच से इत्तेफ़ाक रखती है। इसलिए इसका ध्यान पूरी तरह निरंतर रूप से प्लास्टिक वेस्ट को नष्ट करने पर केंद्रित है।‘’ 

PepsiCo India will be installing reverse vending machines in all the 36 districts of Maharashtra over the next two years. These machines will be used to crush PET plastic bottles.

The company’s move came as part of its plastic waste management initiative. Through this initiative, the food and beverages firm is aiming to collect, segregate and recycle 6,500 tonnes of PET bottles in one year in the state.

Neelima Dwivedi, PepsiCo India’s Vice-President, said, “We plan to roll out this (plastic waste management) initiative to all the 36 districts of the state over the next two years.” 

Ahmed ElSheikh, President of PepsiCo India, said, “The company is committed to the government’s vision and focus on addressing the issue of plastic waste in a sustainable manner.”

PepsiCo India’s Beverages head Vipul Prakash has resigned from the company. Prakash was heading marketing for beverages and had served almost a two-decade-long stint with the beverage and snack maker.

Vishal Kaul, who has been associated with PepsiCo since 1999, will succeed Prakash.

Prakash, who joined PepsiCo in 1998, has been through diverse roles across marketing and franchise functions, at sector and global levels.

Ahmed ELSheikh, Chairman of PepsiCo India, said, “PepsiCo India has built a strong talent pipeline by giving people a mix of different critical experiences in India and internationally.”

PepsiCo’s chief executive officer Indra Nooyi would step down from its position after 12 years at the helm.

President Ramon Laguarta will take over from Nooyi on Oct. 3 and will also join the board, the company said in a statement.

Nooyi, 62, who has been with the company for 24 years, will continue as chairman of the board until early 2019.

Laguarta, a 22-year veteran of PepsiCo, oversaw global operations, corporate strategy, public policy and government affairs in his role as president.

He also served as CEO of the company’s Europe Sub-Saharan Africa division before becoming president.

The company’s shares have gained 78 percent since Nooyi took the top job in 2006.

PepsiCo’s chief executive officer Indra Nooyi would step down from its position after 12 years at the helm.

President Ramon Laguarta will take over from Nooyi on Oct. 3 and will also join the board, the company said in a statement.

Nooyi, 62, who has been with the company for 24 years, will continue as chairman of the board until early 2019.

Laguarta, a 22-year veteran of PepsiCo, oversaw global operations, corporate strategy, public policy and government affairs in his role as president.

He also served as CEO of the company’s Europe Sub-Saharan Africa division before becoming president.

The company’s shares have gained 78 percent since Nooyi took the top job in 2006.

PepsiCo, grappling with a slumping soda business, got another boost from its food operations. The maker of Mountain Dew drink posted second quarter profit that topped analysts’ estimates, helped by strong sales of Frito-Lay chips and Quaker oatmeal, according to a statement on Tuesday.

Core earnings per share were $1.61, 9 cents above analysts’ consensus estimate. Results sent company shares up 1.6% in early trade. Stock closed Monday at $107.76 in New York, down 10% for the year. PepsiCo, like rival Coca-Cola, is looking beyond sugary soda to drive growth as consumers become more health-conscious. Chief executive officer Indra Nooyi has said fixing the struggling North American beverage unit is a top priority, but in the meantime the company is getting a boost from its food brands.

Consumer giants ranging from PepsiCo to Nestle are wrestling with changing tastes as shoppers turn away from sugary foods and drinks and seek out healthier fare. Consumption of carbonated soft drinks fell to a 32-year low in the US last year, according to Beverage-Digest, a trade publication.

While chips have been less affected than sodas, PepsiCo has also introduced organic versions of some big snack brands, in addition to buying startup competitors.

Leading beverage and snacks maker PepsiCo has re-appointed Ola’s former COO Vishal Kaul as its VP - transformation. Kaul who had served Pepsico will return to the company starting August this year after resigning from Ola recently.

Suchitra Rajendra, PepsiCo VP HR confirmed the move taken by the company.

A management trainee at PepsiCo, Kaul has market experience in sales and his last role at PepsiCo was as general manager, Thailand.

The bottling partner of PepsiCo, Varun Beverages has announced to install a greenfield production facility for select beverages in Punjab.

The company plans to set-up a greenfield production facility (subject to receipt of necessary approvals) to create in-house production capacity for Tropicana fruit juices, Quaker Oats milk-based Beverages, and Gatorade, the company said in a BSE filing.

Varun Beverages said this facility will be the first fully backward integrated facility in India to manufacture the complete range of above products including carbonated soft drinks (CSD) at a single location.

"Juice market in India is expected to show strong double-digit growth. The setting-up of this production facility is in-line with our endeavour to strengthen our presence in fast-growing categories," said Varun Beverages Chairman Ravi Jaipuria.

"The addition of these product categories to our portfolio will result in better asset usage as the seasonality in these categories is relatively lower and will augment our return ratios and profitability metrics going forward," he added.

Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has been invited to lay the foundation stone for this new production facility is being laid by at Pathankot.

Shares of Varun Beverages were trading 1.11 per cent higher at Rs 644 apiece on BSE.

In line with its global nutrition objectives, PepsiCo has decided to lessen the salt content in its flagship snacks brand Kurkure.

The first low-salt Kurkure packs have been recently rolled out, PepsiCo VP (snacks) Jagrut Kotecha said.

“As per our performance with purpose agenda, we are working to improve our snack products through a stepwise reduction approach. In India, we have been successful in reducing 21 metric tonnes of sodium from our entire snack portfolio till last year and aim to reduce sodium in 75% of our food’s portfolio by 2025. A recently launched variant of Kurkure has 21% less sodium, according to the snacks and beverages maker,” he said.

Kotecha said PepsiCo, which competes aggressively against more than two thousand local brands in addition to established competitors including ITC, Parle, and Haldiram in packaged salted snacks, is innovating aggressively through hyper localised variants, revamped packaging, and penetrative distribution.

“We continue to lead the snacking category in share and have been growing in double digits,” he said without divulging into the share data, adding that PepsiCo’s brands hadn’t lost “much share”.

PepsiCo, which makes Lays and Doritos besides Kurkure snacks, and soft drinks including Pepsi Cola and Mountain Dew, will reduce sodium and fat content in snacks and sugar content across its juices and carbonated drinks by 2025, the New York-based company had announced two years back.

According to its global commitments, three-quarters of its global foods portfolio will contain sodium volumes less than 1.3 milligrams per calorie, and that at least three-quarters of its foods will not exceed 1.1 grams of saturated fat per 100 calories by 2025.

As a part of the strategy to double business, Food and beverages major PepsiCo India is giving its Tropicana juice an image make-over, roping in Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif as brand ambassador.

Apart from focussing on smaller cities, rest of urban (RoU) and rural market expansion, the company is also looking at packaging innovations to enhance the reach of the brand.

"Given the fact that juice is a really under-penetrated category in the country, we want to be participating in the penetrative growth," Deepika Warrier, Vice President Nutrition, PepsiCo India said.

She said Tropicana is one of the fastest growing brands of the company and PepsiCo India has laid out "a pretty ambitious plan that we want to double Tropicana business by 2020".

At present, the Tropicana master brand, including Slice and other sub-brands, is over Rs 1,000 crore, she added.

Commenting on the repositioning of the brand, Warrier said, "Earlier Tropicana was seen as an international aspirational brand and we were targeting to young adults and metro consumers as a complement to rushed breakfast."

Now the company will target youth, making Tropicana "an enabler in lifestyle for the time-pressed millennials who find their own health and nutrition hacks and to suit their individual lifestyles".

“PepsiCo India has a redefined strategy through its strategic partnership with bottling partner, Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL) for sale and distribution of Tropicana range of juices along with Gatorade and Quaker Value-Added Dairy in the north and east India announced in January,” she shared her thoughts regarding the distribution front.

"The north and east regions together account for 80 per cent of the juice market in India," Warrier said, adding VBL's reach will help the brand more than double the distribution reach in these regions, with a focus on rest of urban (RoU) and rural market expansion.

The target for Tropicana is to reach 2.5 lakh outlets in 330 towns from one lakh in around 80-100 towns at present, she added. In the south and west India, Tropicana will be sold through PepsiCo's system for core carbonated beverage.

Warrier also said PepsiCo India could consider smaller pack sizes for Rs 10 as compared to the current entry-level size of Rs 20 as it looks to penetrate deeper into the rural markets. Besides, innovations like the transparent packaging in order to convince consumers that the juices don't contain preservatives may be looked at.

Ethnic drink brand Paper Boat seems to be slowing down after sailing high for almost seven years, as health-conscious consumers are looking for sugar free products.

Hector Beverages, maker of Paper Boat, posted a tepid 12.5% growth in the year ended March 2017 after doubling its sales in the previous year.

Hector Beverages reported sales of Rs 69 crore and net loss of Rs 78 crore for 2016-17, as per its latest filing with the Registrar of Companies (RoC). It had posted sales of Rs 62 crore and net loss of Rs 84 crore in the previous year.

Rival beverages makers PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, too, have been struggling to grow their sales while top confectioners Mondelez and Ferrero India posted one of their slowest sales growth last year.

While Paper Boat sells non-carbonated drinks, the products are still high in sugar and aren’t considered healthier than other beverages such as fruit juice.

Haldiram's has regained the top spot as the country’s largest snack company after more than two decades, surpassing PepsiCo in sales thanks to increasing consumer preference for packaged namkeen over western snacks such as potato chips.

Haldiram's posted sales of Rs 4,224.8 crore in the year ended September, compared with PepsiCo’s Rs 3,990.7 crore from brands such as Lay’s, Kurkure and Uncle Chipps, according to the latest Nielsen data sourced from executives. A year earlier, PepsiCo’s sales stood at Rs 3,617 crore compared with Haldiram’s Rs 3,262 crore.

While the overall market grew 17% in the year, Haldiram’s pace was faster at nearly 30%, in contrast with 10-12% during 2012-16. It added nearly Rs 1,000 crore of incremental sales in the year to September.

Kamal Agarwal a fourth generation member of the Haldiram’s family “There was a sharp increase in raw material prices for several snacking products, especially nuts. However, we maintained our price tag and absorbed losses, which helped us gain share not just from existing players but also the unorganised segment since the price differential narrowed down. Consumers are also correlating healthy food with Indian snacks and namkeen but chips are perceived to be unhealthy.”

PepsiCo spoke person said “In the salty snacks segment, we continue to be the leaders, which is also the fastest-growing category in overall snacks. In the western salty category, with strong double-digit growth, Lay’s has been our fastest growing food brand in the last year on account of premiumisation and innovation with Lay’s Maxx and Shapes. In the nachos category, we scaled our presence with the ‘Made in India’ Doritos, and the product is seeing strong preference and traction amongst consumers. We have further expanded our salty snacks portfolio last year with Kurkure Triangles, which is also growing in double digits.”

In the past few years, branded namkeen varieties such as dal, chivra, bhujia and nuts have been increasing their contribution within the overall snacks market worth Rs 21,600 crore. Traditional snacks now account for more than half the market with both multinationals and homegrown companies pushing namkeen into the hinterland with attractive packaging and pricing.

Marketers say consumers have increased purchases of branded namkeen rather than unbranded products from local bakeries due to the hygiene factor, helping regional players gain share from Pepsi. For instance, Gujarat-based Balaji that clocked sales of Rs 2,121 crore in the year to September is the second-largest in terms of individual brands after Haldiram followed by PepsiCo Lay’s and Kurkure.

B Krishna Rao, category head at Parle Products said “A large part of the unorganised market has shifted towards namkeen as companies have increased availability and affordability. Also, increased reach and new product launches especially by local players have been driving most of the growth.”

PepsiCo's India lost its fizz even as its largest rival Coca-Cola posted double-digit growth amid health conscious consumers cutting down on sugary aerated drinks. PepsiCo India Holdings saw revenue grow 0.2% during year to March 2017 to Rs 6,540 crore while Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, which account for two-thirds of Coca-Cola's revenue, posted 11% growth in revenues at Rs 9,472 crore.

Hindustan Coca Cola Beverages Spokesperson said “it changed accounting standards that propped up revenue growth. On a comparable basis, both current and previous year as per IND AS reporting, our revenues have remained steady. We certainly have the scale and the reach to make a difference to the food-processing sector in India and the agri ecosystem of the country. There are more people entering the ready-to-drink beverage category and our focus is to build HCCB into a ‘total beverage company’ that has a play in all beverage categories of relevance”.

PepsiCo India spokesperson said “This was reflected in FY 2016-17 performance that saw us progressing ahead with strong double digit growth on our core brands like Tropicana and Lay’s. While the end of H2 FY 2016-17 growths was impacted on account of some macro head winds, business momentum has been recovering over the last 3 quarters. Sales were also impacted during last two quarters of 2017 financial year due to demonetisation, where people were forced to use things other than cash".

Growth has slowed in the Rs 22,000-crore carbonated soft drinks market as consumers switch to healthier beverages such as juices, energy drinks, flavoured tea, fortified water and dairy-based beverages. Both PepsiCo and rival Coca-Cola have been hedging risks by reducing dependence on core soft drinks and introducing either sugar-free drinks or non-aerated beverages.

Pepsi lowered its investments on commoditised, low margin segments including low juice content segment. PepsiCo's recent launches include 7Up with natural sweetener stevia, Pepsi Black with zero sugar, hydration drink Revive and several local and international flavours in juices.

PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd has introduced Pepsi Black, a canned zero-calorie carbonated beverage priced at Rs 25, as part of its plan to intensify focus on health and nutrition, reduce sugar content in beverages.

Pepsi Black will be available in cans initially and the company may look at bringing PET bottles in the next 6-8 months.

The company is also gearing up to launch a new 7UP with 30 per cent less sugar and plans to extend the formulation to its other brands.

Vipul Prakash, Senior Vice-President – Beverages, PepsiCo India, said, "The company will roll-out a new product every quarter to widen its portfolio, with focus on lower-sugar and functional beverages."

At present, PepsiCo sells Diet Pepsi, a low-calorie version of its flagship drink, in India.

Carbonated soft-drink makers are facing challenging times with slowdown in rural demand, and urban households switching to healthier drinks.

At the same time, the industry is bracing itself for the Goods and Services Tax (slated to be rolled out in July), which has put carbonated drinks on a higher slab.

PepsiCo India, the maker of Quaker oats, Lays chips and Pepsi Cola, is looking to enter the country's growing dairy market.

With consumption of carbonated soft drinks such as colas going down, the company is keen to increase the share of healthy products in its portfolio. 

While growth has remained muted (low single digit) in the Rs 14,000-crore domestic soft drinks market, the dairy segment, pegged at around Rs 99,000 crore, has grown by 13% in 2016 over 2015, according to Euromonitor.

Vipul Prakash, Senior Vice-President (Beverage Category), PepsiCo India, said, "We are definitely looking at dairy, especially value-added products. But it won't be just flavoured milk."

PepsiCo India's largest bottler Ravi Jaipuria, who also sells Cream Bell ice-cream, is betting on the dairy market with value-added products.

Prakash acknowledged that sales of soft drinks have been slowing down in the country. He attributed it to the maturing of the domestic beverage market.

Prakash said, "I would be worried if the size of the beverage market had been shrinking. But that is not the case. 

A consumer has more choice today than what he had a few years ago, so he may be picking up products other than a sparkling beverage to satiate his drinking needs at different times during the day."

PepsiCo's Tropicana, a billion-dollar brand globally, has lost about 5% share of India’s Rs 2,000-crore packaged juices market that is witnessing a steady consolidation at the top by home-grown Dabur’s Real brand.

Tropicana has dropped a 5% share — both by value and volume — between April 2016 and January 2017 compared with the corresponding period a year-ago, two officials quoting data by researcher Nielsen said.

By contrast, Real has gained about 2.5% each on both parameters, according to the data. New entrant ITC’s B Natural and ethnic drinks maker Paper Boat — both marginal players — have gained slightly in the period, the data show.

With Rs 1,000-crore in retail sales, Real is the single largest brand for Dabur in the country. The brand has introduced juices based on local fruits such as mausambi, jamun and amla, and Dabur’s distribution muscle is also seeking to establish the low-priced mango fruit drink, Ju.C. Dabur marketing head (juices and beverages) Mayank Kumar attributed the brand’s market share gains to India’s increasing health awareness.

Kumar said, "Time-pressed lifestyles of urban Indians have led to the demand for convenient breakfast and snacking solutions such as packaged fruit juices."

He added that the growth of Real and its no-added -sugar variant Activ have been volume-led, fuelled by the 200-ml packs in low-penetration geographies.

Wider distribution and on-ground visibility provided further traction, he said. An email to Nielsen remained unanswered until the publication of this report.

A PepsiCo spokesperson said, “As a policy, we cannot comment on market share. Having said that, the data is not reflective of Tropicana’s strong double digit growth year-on-year in 2016. Tropicana has been one of the fastest growing beverage brands in our portfolio, and 70% of its growth was on the back of locally relevant innovations.”

She cited variants such as mosambi and Alphonso as examples of drinks based on Indian fruits.

The spokesperson added that PepsiCo has expanded the Tropicana franchise with functional juices under Tropicana Essentials, developed to address “specific deficiencies”.

Dabur’s new sub-brand Ju.C will compete in the bigger fruit drinks market that comprises of Parle Agro’s Frooti, PepsiCo’s Slice and Coca-Cola’s Maaza. This category is separate from juices and nectars where Tropicana and Real compete.

Urban India's health fad isn't sweet news for sugar. Softdrink companies are looking up to a scorching summer, which weathermen predict will likely set in early this season, to help beat the latest trend of sluggish volume growth. Yet, sugar mills are pencilling in a 10% decline in aggregate demand, as cities display a shift toward less sugary drinks and India's hinterland holds back purchases of what is considered a luxury.

A beverage industry said, "This is beginning to reflect on production cycles now, and raw material sourcing is being scaled back."

The official said, "There is a slowdown in ur ban markets where consumers have multiple options of choosing functional beverages such as flavoured water, probiotic drinks and fresh juices. Rural consumers, on the other hand, have been lowering spending on discretionary categories such as cola."

Fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies that buy the sweetener in bulk account for 70% of local sales of sugar. The April June quarter contributes more than 40% annual sales of the Rs.14,000 crore industry.

The assessment on lower demand comes amid an ongoing boycott of colas by traders and shopkeepers in Tamil Nadu. For its part, Pepsi Co does not foresee major volaitility in demand for the sweetener.

Vipul Prakash, Vice President, Beverages, PepsiCo India said, "We do not envisage any signifi cant change in our requirements this year and, in fact, look forward to the season."

Compared to last year's sugar off take of 24.8 million tonnes, industry grouping Indian Sugar Mills Association now expects sugar sales this season to be between 23.8 and 24 million tonnes.

ISMA president T Sarita Reddy said, "In our meeting held on Monday, all members reported that there was no demand for sugar in the market.In the south, it is due to the boycott on some cold drinks in Tamil Nadu, while in other parts of the country, there is a fall in demand in domestic as well as the FMCG segment."

According to ISMA, lower sales could be due to demonetisation, drop in sugar purchases by bulk consumers and price elasticity affecting demand.

Maharashtra and Pepsico has entered into an agreement to drive skill development with a focus to modernise the ITIs as well as work on skill development of workers in various food processing units.

The agreement was signed after Pepsico chair Indra Nooyi met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Pepsico said in a statement.

The company already runs a partnership in the state under which it has invested Rs 180 crore in a citrus processing facility.

The company said in a statement that "We are committed to invest further in the state's progress with increased agricultural sourcing. As part of our continued commitment to Maharashtra, we have invested Rs 180 crore in a citrus processing facility at Nanded.

Continuing with our commitment, we and Maharashtra also discussed collaboration towards skill development with a focus to modernise ITIs as well as work on skill development in various food processing plants in partnership with the state."

Pratik Pota, Vice-president, PO1 sales, of food and beverage giant PepsiCo India and Kimsuka Narsimhan, CFO, PepsiCo India have decided to step down of their positions and have reportedly resigned from the company.

A PepsiCo India spokesperson confirmed the development and said Harsh Rai, CEO and MD of NourishCo Beverages (a Tata PepsiCo JV), will take over the reins from Pota.

Pota, a PepsiCo veteran for 11 years, worked across several functions at the local arm of the Purchase-based company, including developing and launching its packaged nimbu pani (lemonade) brand Nimbooz to re-launching Mountain Dew on the proposition of Darr Ke Aage Jeet Hai (Beyond Fear Lies Victory). As the PO1 (Power of One) sales head of PepsiCo India, Pota was responsible for food and beverages sales of the company. Launched by Indra Nooyi, the PO1 strategy integrates the company's snacks and beverage divisions into a single portfolio. Narsimhan and Pota have left for personal reasons, company executives said.

India's Rs 14,000 crore soft drink industries, which is facing a big challenge due to higher taxes and consumers shifting to healthier beverages, seems to be undergoing significant restructuring at present with PepsiCo's rival Coke shuffling the portfolios of its senior executives in India.

PepsiCo India beverage and snacks is rolling out Lay's Crispz and Twitz, two sub-brands with Rs 5 entry-level packs, to take the brand to the masses and thwart competition from regional snack makers, reported ET.

Two years back, PepsiCo had initiated talks to buy Gujarat-based salty snacks major Balaji Wafers, but it had fizzed out on valuation. Partho Chakrabarti, PepsiCo India's vice-president said the strategy was aimed at leveraging the brand's strengths through multiple price points.

"Last year, we took Lay's premium with Maxx. Now, we're taking the brand mass with this differentiated potato-based snack," Chakrabarti said.

Crispz and Twitz, which are being rolled out as a pilot in some big cities in north India, will be sold at Rs 5 and Rs 20 mainly through general trade. The company plans to introduce them in tier-II and III town and cities later.

Although Lay's has been available at price points of Rs 2, 3 and 5, the new sub-brands are aimed at countering competition from regional salty snacks players. With sales in beverages slowing to low single digits, the New York headquartered firm is banking on snacks to grow its business in the country.

"Consumers are opting for measured portions or single-serve packs in food as well, which used to be a phenomenon for beverages. So, with affordable pricing and flavour expansion, this is a classic case of increasing category penetration and getting new users," said Devendra Chawla, group president, food FMCG and brands, Future Group.

Pepsico, which also makes Pepsi cola and Slice mango drink, is also scaling up its $1-billion-plus, high-margin Doritos snacks brand.

India's Rs 8,700-crore salty snacks market is characterised by a large presence of unorganised players, besides rivals such as ITC's Bingo, Parle, Balaji Wafers and Haldiram's.