Govt allows Pepsico to inject $200 mn additional equity

The government today cleared a proposal of the US-based soft drinks major Pepsico Holdings to inject additional equity of $200 million (around Rs 930 crore) into its Indian arm within three years.

A few month ago the company had announced plans to pump in $200 million in 2010 on expanding manufacturing capacity, market infrastructure, supply chain and R&D.

The investment, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs at its meeting here, would take Pepsico's total foreign direct investment (FDI) into the country to $655 million.

The company had said of the planned $220 million investments, $170 million will be from Pepsico while $50 million would come from its bottling partners.

The approval is to invest the money within three years but the company has plans to spend it within a year.

"This is by far the largest investment made by the company... In a single year since its entry into India," PepsiCo India chairman and CEO Sanjeev Chadha had said in a recent interview.

The $200 million is part of PepsiCo's $500-million investment plans, spread over three years, announced by the company's India-born global head Indra Nooyi during her visit to the country last year.

Pepsico, which held its high-profile global board meeting in India in November, had announced that it would triple its business in country every five years.