India a big, long-term growth market, says beverage major PepsiCo

Beverage major sees double-digit growth in convenient foods, beverages in Q2 in India

PepsiCo CEO Ramon Laguarta on Thursday said India will be a high-demand market for many years to come and that the firm was putting a lot of infrastructure on ground to tap what he called “massive opportunity”.

He was addressing analysts on the company’s conference call. The firm reported mixed quarterly results on Thursday.

PepsiCo India, meanwhile, reported high single-digit organic revenue growth in the country in the second quarter of calendar year 2024.

“India is a big growth space for us and is an investment area. The opportunity is massive, if you take a decade’s perspective and 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,” Laguarta said.

In its release, the company’s management said, “Developing and emerging markets such as Egypt and Poland each delivered double-digit organic revenue growth, India and Brazil delivered high-single-digit growth, Thailand, and Pakistan each delivered mid-single-digit growth.”

In the AMESA region, PepsiCo said its convenient foods unit volume grew 1 per cent in the second quarter, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India and low-single digit growth in South Africa, partially offset by a double-digit decline in West Asia and a low-single digit decline in Pakistan.

In the 24 weeks ended June 15, its convenient foods unit volume grew 2 per cent, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India and low-single digit growth in South Africa, partially offset by a double-digit decline in West Asia.

Its beverage unit volume grew 2 per cent in the second quarter, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India, partially offset by a high-single-digit decline in Pakistan, a low-single-digit decline in West Asia and a mid-single-digit decline in Nigeria.

In the 24 weeks ended June 15 too, beverage unit volume grew 2 per cent, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India, partially offset by a double-digit decline in Pakistan and a low-single-digit decline in Nigeria.

On a year-to-date basis, the beverage major said, “Year-to-date, we held or gained savoury snack share in China, India, Brazil, Australia, and Pakistan, and for beverages, we held or gained share in Australia, South Korea, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Brazil.”