Dive Brief:
- PepsiCo Inc. will invest $5.5 billion in India by 2020.
- The move will expand the food and beverage giant's offerings that cater to local tastes in one of the world's largest growing markets, and will also double the company's manufacturing capacity while improving its Indian sales and distribution network.
- PepsiCo has also earmarked funds to expand its Indian agriculture program.
Dive Insight:
The announcement comes less than a week after rival Coca-Cola announced plans to invest $4 billion in China over the next three years. Both investments are significant not just because they are in the two most-populated countries on Earth, but because soft drink sales are down in North America as consumer interest in healthy food options has grown in recent years. PepsiCo, for example, now gets around half of its overall revenue outside of the U.S. The company also recently announced a new CEO of Asia, Middle East and Africa operations, Sanjeev Chadha.