Pepsico India, the seller of Pepsi carbonated beverages and Lehar and Lays range of snacks, is exploring sponsorships with various sports events beyond cricket, after exiting as the main sponsor for the Indian Premier League, as it seeks to target the new-age youngsters. In an exclusive interview with The Financial Express, Pepsico India chairman D Shivakumar says the company is betting big on other sports as well while it continues to discuss with beneficial opportunities for the brand.
Excerpts:
Pepsico India had earlier this year exited as the title sponsor for the Indian Premier League? Does the pulling out of sponsorship affect Pepsi image, as the brand has been a strong supporter of cricket in India?
There are more and more sports coming in…tennis is picking up, F1 is picking up, adventure sports is becoming big. More young people are attached to adventure sports. We are doing Indian Super League, we are the beverage sponsors for Champions Trophy Tennis. We continue to have discussions with BCCI to any events that is mutually beneficial.
In 2012, Pepsi had formed a joint venture with Tata Global Beverages – NourishCo – for introducing new products aimed at health and wellness. Can you give us an update on the operations.
NourishCo is doing well. We have two variants of water – Tata Water and Himalayan. We have also have an non-carbonated energy drink, Tata Gluco Plus. We have gone for an entire outsourcing model where others manufacture for us. There could be variants of the energy drink, but no plans to launch new products.
Pepsico chairwoman Indira Nooyi had announced in 2013 that the beverage company would invest $5. billion in India. Its been two years since, what are the projects you have invested, and how much?
We did greenfield project at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh. We have built the value chain, and upgraded the third-party facilities. That is taken much of the investments. We are the journey (of investing more).
