Pepsi India wants more of Indian market

Pepsi continues to be bullish on India with its plan to invest around Rs 400 crore in the next four years.

According to Mr PM Sinha, chairman, Pepsi India Ltd.,  the company will concentrate more on backward  integration, as it wants to have joint ventures and   franchisees to set up six to seven new bottling lines  every year. At present it has 40 bottling lines in the  country. Pepsi owns 16 units and the rest are owned by franchisees.

Pepsi plans to set up seven new PET bottling plants by  the year 2000, which will supplement the existing eight plants in Mumbai and Calcutta. Plans are on to add   100,000 outlets every year to its current network of around 600,000 across the country.

The company will test-market and launch its drinking  water, Aquafina, in Mumbai before taking it to other  centres. Aquafina will be retailed in 750-ml bottles for Rs 10. It will be made only at Roha in Maharashtra.

However, the company may set up other plants elsewhere
later.

Mr Sinha said that Aquafina offers a quality that many  known brands cannot offer. The company has gone through quality control measures to provide the best product.

Aquafina will be available through Pepsi's normal distribution channels. At present 60 per cent of Pepsi's outlets sell mineral water.

According to Mr Sinha, PET bottles are a success story and it will not be long before the 250-ml returnable glass bottles are replaced by PET bottles.

Pepsi will continue its practice of operating through a combination of its own bottling units and units belonging to its franchisees. Mr Sinha said, "We feel Pepsi can fruitfully cash in on the benefits offered by the franchisees through their contacts and employees in the long run".

The company also plans to renew its thrust on exports. It exports chilies, peanut butter and ginger.