Varun Beverages: Genie out of the bottle, grants a wish to all stakeholders

RJ Corp chairman Ravi Jaipuria has propelled Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL), named after his son, from a single PepsiCo bottling plant in 1987 into what is now the New York-headquartered beverage company's second-largest bottling business globally outside the US.

VBL's market cap on April 16 stood at ₹1.55 lakh crore, having surged 20 times in the last 10 years. For the year ended December 31, 2025, VBL reported consolidated revenue from operations of ₹21,685.38 crore, up 8.4% over 2024.

Born into a traditional Marwari family in Delhi, Jaipuria studied business management in the US, returned to India in 1985 to join the family bottling business, and has since then, built a multi-billion-dollar empire through risk-taking vision and relentless execution.


He set up VBL in 1995 and merged existing franchise bottling rights for PepsiCo, recognising the high potential of India's packaged beverages market, and taking on rival Coca-Cola, which had also begun pumping investment into the Indian market.

VBL was listed in November 2016, followed five years later by group company Devyani International Ltd (DIL), India's largest franchisee partner for KFC, Pizza Hut and Costa Coffee. The two companies draw direct synergies from each other.

"Our focus remains on building a strong, sustainable and future-ready business through disciplined execution, a sharp focus on creating enduring value for all our stakeholders and close alignment with evolving consumer preferences," Jaipuria said. He said the company "remains confident in the long-term growth opportunity across markets, supported by favourable demographic trends and rising beverage consumption."

VBL holds PepsiCo franchisee partner rights across 27 states and six Union territories in India, as well as for Nepal, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, DRC, Lesotho and Eswatini, in addition to distribution rights for Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique and Madagascar.