PepsiCo global chief Ramon Laguarta sees 'massive opportunity' in India

PepsiCo chairman Ramon Laguarta said the company “continues to see a lot of growth in many parts of the Asia region, in particular, India which is a big growth space for us, and is an investment area for sure”, in a post earnings analyst call on Friday. PepsiCo in India sells concentrate to its franchise partner RJ Corp-owned Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL).

“The opportunity is massive. We are investing in the brands, making sure that we build the scale to capture what is going to be a high demand market for many, many years,” Laguarta said.

PepsiCo’s brand portfolio in India includes Pepsi and Mountain Dew aerated drinks, and Lays chips and Kurkure salty snacks.


The company said in its earnings statement that the India unit reported high single-digit organic revenue growth in the April-June quarter. It did not specify exact growth numbers.

“The opportunity is massive, if you take a decade’s perspective.. we are putting a lot of infrastructure on ground, investing in the brands to make sure we can build scale to capture what is going to be a high-demand market for many years,” the global chief said.

For the Africa, Middle East and South Asia regions, PepsiCo reported 1% per cent volume growth for convenient foods, and said this reflected “double-digit growth in India and low-single digit growth in South Africa”.