Calling India one of its most promising markets globally, he said the company remains “very bullish” on the country’s growth potential, backed by an investment of around Rs 5,700 crore by 2030 to scale up capacity and strengthen its regional footprint.
PepsiCo, which is investing to enhance capacity and scale up its supply chain network, inaugurated its fifth manufacturing plant in Nalbari, Assam, on Thursday, with an investment of Rs 778 crore.
The company, which earlier this year opened a concentrate facility at Ujjain in Madhya Pradesh, is also setting up a plant at Tiruchirappalli in Tamil Nadu to widen its presence in south India.
PepsiCo sees strong India growth potential
Replying to a PTI query on whether India will come under its top 10 markets in the coming years, he said, “Yes. That’s what our vision is.” PepsiCo believes in the “potential of India” in “both our food and beverage business”, segments, in which the New York-headquartered company operates here.“The per capita consumption is still very low when you compare it versus other markets for packaged goods. So that’s where we are very bullish,” he said at a media roundtable here.
India is one of PepsiCo’s top 13 anchor markets globally. PepsiCo India had a turnover of Rs 9,789 crore in 2025. Its bottling business is handled by franchise partner Varun Beverages, whose standalone revenue (mainly India) stood at Rs 15,070.7 crore.
Kotecha did not comment on business expectations for the second half (H2) of 2026, but said the company is “very bullish”.
India is one of the “key anchor markets” for the food, snack and beverage multinational, which re-entered the country in the 1990s after a gap of nearly three decades.
Expansion tailored to regional tastes
As part of its expansion, PepsiCo will also cater to regional tastes and preferences, saying its approach will not be uniform across the country.The company “will work with the 7 India or 9 India geographies” as per their taste profiles.
“Our manufacturing footprint and all the effort is to make in India, for India, by Indians, for the Indian consumer,” he said.
Focus remains on domestic market
On export opportunities, he said the focus will remain on the domestic market, which holds great potential, though some exports will continue to neighbouring markets such as Bhutan and Sri Lanka.“So all the capacity which was put in, whether it’s the concentrate plant at Ujjain or the foods plant, all of it is for India,” Kotecha said.
Assam plant to support farmers and local economy
PepsiCo’s 44.2-acre Assam facility is the company’s fifth food manufacturing plant in the country and reinforces its “Partnership of Progress” and “In India, For India” commitment, it said.The Nalbari plant has created 700 direct and indirect employment opportunities and is expected to accelerate the growth of local MSMEs and ancillary industries, PepsiCo said, adding that it will support over 5,000 farmers through demand for potatoes over the coming years.
The facility will strengthen Assam’s agricultural ecosystem by enabling the sourcing of chip-grade potatoes, benefiting more than 5,000 farmers through sustainable farming practices and creating demand for around 60,000 tonnes of cold storage capacity.
Published on September 10, 2026
