Brands

PepsiCo’s India ambitions: fizzing with growth potential

Published

11 months ago

March 9, 2025

MUMBAI: In the sweltering heat of India’s bustling metropolises, where street vendors hawk their wares amid a cacophony of honking horns and animated chatter, PepsiCo has spotted an oasis of opportunity. The beverage and snack behemoth aims to double its revenue in this vibrant South Asian nation over the next five years, viewing India as a critical “key anchor market” where it’s pouring investments like a perfectly fizzy drink into a chilled glass.

PepsiCo India & South Asia CEO Jagrut Kotecha, with eyes sparkling like carbonated bubbles rising to the surface, revealed that India will serve as the “engine of growth” for PepsiCo’s global revenue ambitions. Standing tall among the company’s top three markets globally, India’s performance has been anything but flat, serving up double-digit growth that’s as refreshing as a cold sip on a blistering summer day.

Lays “We believe India will be the engine of growth for PepsiCo to drive the top line,” Kotecha explained, gesturing expressively during an exclusive interview with PTI. “Our per capita consumption in India is still very low, not only for beverages and food, but we would expect one of PepsiCo’s fastest-growing economies to change that,” he added, his optimism as effervescent as a freshly opened bottle of cola.

The company hasn’t been crisping about when it comes to investments. PepsiCo has already established greenfield plants in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where golden wheat fields stretch to the horizon, and is preparing to pop open a new facility in Assam, nestled among lush tea plantations in India’s verdant northeast, by year’s end.

“We are not going to be investment shy,” Kotecha declared, with the confidence of someone holding the winning hand in a high-stakes game. “We’re going to be investing forward to drive that growth because it’s there for us to capture.”

Pepsi Beverages

The numbers tell a tasty tale: PepsiCo has poured close to Rs 3,500-4,000 crore into the Indian market over the past three years—an investment as substantial as a fully loaded potato crisp.

The American giant has crafted a strategy as carefully layered as a perfectly constructed sandwich. It has divided the kaleidoscopic Indian market into nine distinct clusters based on taste preferences, demonstrating an understanding that India’s palate is as diverse as its colourful festivals and traditions.

PepsiCo operates through instantly recognisable brands that have become as familiar to Indians as the sight of cricket matches in neighbourhood parks—Kurkure with its distinctive crunch, Lay’s with its perfect crisp, thoughtful Quaker, and zesty Doritos dominate its food segment, which contributed a hearty 80 per cent to PepsiCo India’s revenue in 2023.

The remaining 20 per cent bubbled up from beverages, a segment handled by bottling partner Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL), which operates a network of 41 plants scattered across the country like stars in the night sky. VBL isn’t sipping slowly either—they’ve increased capacity by a quarter this year alone.

Kurkure

Its beverages brand include carbonated fare such as Mountain Dew, 7up, Pepsi, and energy drink Sting and sports beverages Gatorade, while in juices it has Tropicana and Slice brands .PepsiCo operates with Kurkure, Lays, Quaker and Doritos in the snacks category.

When questioned about new competitor Reliance’s Campa Cola, which has been creating ripples in the market with aggressive pricing and distributor margins, Kotecha maintained the composed demeanour of a drink that hasn’t lost its fizz.

“It’s always good to have competition. Competition only helps to grow the category,” he remarked with the wisdom of a seasoned market player. “Even before Pepsi and Coke were there, there were a lot of local, regional players. Now Campa has also come with a lot of flair and expense. So our belief is the category will then grow and consumption will grow.”

This optimistic outlook comes even as India’s per capita consumption remains “far less” than neighbouring Pakistan—a fact that doesn’t seem to dilute Kotecha’s enthusiasm.

The vision for PepsiCo India is as clear as a glass of Mountain Dew: to achieve $2 billion (around Rs 17,000 crore) in revenue in the coming years. Having reported over Rs 5,950 crore in 2023 (for nine months due to a change in fiscal year), and maintaining double-digit growth since then, PepsiCo appears to be on a trajectory as steady as a perfectly balanced can of soda.

As the sun sets over the vast Indian landscape, painting the sky in hues of orange and purple, PepsiCo continues to bet big on a country where every street corner could potentially house a new consumer ready to reach for a cold drink or a packet of crisps. In this land of a billion dreams, PepsiCo is hoping its growth story will be nothing short of effervescent.

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Brands

Netflix India names Rekha Rane director of films and series marketing

Streaming giant bets on a seasoned marketer who helped build Amazon and Netflix into household names

Published

5 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: Netflix has put a proven brand builder at the helm of its films and series marketing in India, naming Rekha Rane as director in a move that signals sharper focus on audience growth and cultural cut-through in one of its most hotly contested markets.

Rane steps into the role after seven years at Netflix, where she has quietly shaped how the platform sells stories to India. Her latest promotion, effective February 2026, crowns a run that spans brand, slate and product marketing across originals, licensed content and new verticals such as games.

A strategic marketing and communications professional with roughly 15 years’ experience, Rane has spent much of her career building technology-led consumer businesses and new categories, notably e-commerce and subscription video on demand. She was part of the early push that introduced Amazon.in, Prime Video and Netflix to Indian homes, then helped turn them into everyday brands.

At Netflix, she most recently served as head of brand and slate marketing for India from March 2024 to February 2026, leading teams across media and marketing for global and local content portfolios. Before that, as manager for original films and series marketing, she led IP creation and go-to-market strategy for titles including Guns and Gulaabs, Kaala Paani, The Railway Men* and The Great Indian Kapil Show, spanning both binge and weekly-release formats.

Her earlier Netflix roles covered product discovery and promotion in India and integrated campaign strategy to drive conversations around the content slate, product awareness and brand-equity metrics.

Before Netflix, Rane logged more than three years at Amazon in brand marketing roles in Bengaluru. There she handled national and regional campaigns for Amazon.in, worked on customer assistance programmes in growth geographies and contributed to the go-to-market strategy for the launch of Prime Video India.

Her career began well away from streaming. At Reliance Brands in Mumbai, she worked on retail marketing for Diesel and Superdry. A stint at Leo Burnett saw her work on primary research for P&G Tide, mapping Indian shoppers’ paths to purchase. Earlier still, at Orange in the United Kingdom, she rose from sales assistant to store manager, running a team and owning monthly P&L for a retail outlet.

The arc is telling. As global streamers fight for attention in a crowded Indian market, executives who understand both mass retail behaviour and digital habit-building are prized. Rane’s career sits at that intersection.

For Netflix, the bet is simple: in a market spoilt for choice, sharp marketing can still tilt the screen. And with Rane now leading the charge, the streamer is signalling it wants not just viewers, but fandom.

Brands

Orient Beverages pops the fizz with steady Q3 gains and rising profits

Kolkata-based beverage maker reports stronger revenues and profits for December quarter.

Published

5 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

MUMBAI: A fizzy quarter with a steady aftertaste that’s how Orient Beverages Limited, the company that manufactures and distributes packaged drinking water under the brand name Bisleri closed the December 2025 period, as the Kolkata-based drinks maker reported improved revenues and a healthy rise in profits, signalling operational stability in a competitive beverage market.

For the quarter ended December 31, 2025, Orient Beverages posted standalone revenue from operations of Rs 39.98 crore, up from Rs 36.42 crore in the previous quarter and Rs 33.53 crore in the same quarter last year. Total income for the quarter stood at Rs 42.24 crore, reflecting consistent demand and stable pricing across its beverage portfolio.

Profit before tax for the quarter came in at Rs 3.47 crore, a sharp improvement from Rs 1.31 crore in the September quarter and Rs 0.39 crore a year ago. After accounting for tax expenses of Rs 0.79 crore, the company reported a net profit of Rs 2.68 crore, nearly three times the Rs 0.99 crore recorded in the preceding quarter.

On a nine-month basis, the momentum remained intact. Revenue from operations for the period ended December 31, 2025 rose to Rs 117.66 crore, compared with Rs 106.95 crore in the corresponding period last year. Net profit for the nine months climbed to Rs 5.51 crore, more than double the Rs 2.18 crore reported in the same period of the previous financial year.

The consolidated numbers told a similar story. For the December quarter, consolidated revenue from operations stood at Rs 45.06 crore, while profit after tax came in at Rs 2.06 crore. For the nine-month period, consolidated revenue touched Rs 133.57 crore, with net profit of Rs 4.49 crore, underscoring the group’s improving profitability trajectory.

Operating expenses remained largely controlled, with cost of materials, employee benefits and other expenses broadly aligned with revenue growth. The company continued to operate within a single reportable segment beverages simplifying its cost structure and reporting framework.

The unaudited financial results were reviewed by the Audit Committee and approved by the Board of Directors at its meeting held on 7 February 2026. Statutory auditors carried out a limited review and reported no material misstatements in the results.

In a market where margins are often squeezed by input costs and competition, Orient Beverages’ latest numbers suggest the company has found a reliable rhythm not explosive, but steady enough to keep the fizz alive.

Brands

BCCL profit jumps 53 per cent in FY25 as tax bill shrinks

Revenue rises 4.3 per cent to Rs 10,209.33 crore while deferred tax gain lifts bottom line sharply

Published

5 days ago

February 9, 2026

indiantelevision.com Team

NEW DELHI: Bennett, Coleman and Company (BCCL) has posted a sparkling set of financial results for the year ended 31 March 2025, proving that there is still plenty of ink and gold left in the ledger.

Revenue from operations climbed a steady 4.3 per cent, reaching Rs 10,209.33 crore compared to Rs 9,786.44 crore the previous year. When you sprinkle in other income, which rose 8.9 per cent to Rs 949.36 crore, the total income for the media behemoth hit a healthy Rs 11,158.69 crore.

While the income grew at a modest pace, the bottom line tells a far more dramatic story. The real headline is the 53 per cent surge in annual profit. How did they pull off such a feat? While Profit Before Tax (PBT) saw a gentle nudge upward of 2.7 per cent to Rs 1,610.00 crore, it was a vanishing act by the taxman that really did the trick.

Total tax expenses plummeted by 32.4 per cent, dropping from Rs 468.76 crore down to Rs 316.97 crore. This was largely thanks to a swing in deferred tax, moving from an expense of Rs 156.02 crore in FY24 to a benefit of Rs 39.44 crore this year.

Total income rose from Rs 10,658.55 crore in FY24 to Rs 11,158.69 crore in FY25, marking a 4.7 per cent increase. Total expenses grew at a slower pace, up 3.0 per cent from Rs 9,306.06 crore to Rs 9,581.45 crore. Profit before tax inched up 2.7 per cent, moving from Rs 1,567.02 crore to Rs 1,610.00 crore. However, the standout figure was net profit, which jumped sharply by 53.0 per cent, climbing from Rs 1,042.03 crore in FY24 to Rs 1,594.73 crore in FY25.

Despite the rising costs of doing business across the globe, BCCL kept a tight grip on the purse strings. Total expenses rose by just 3.0 per cent to Rs 9,581.45 crore. By keeping costs lower than the rate of income growth, the company ensured that the final figure, a net profit of Rs 1,594.73 crore, was nothing short of a front-page sensation.

In a world of shifting digital tides, it seems the BCCL ship is not just steady, but sailing into significantly wealthier waters.