India: Varun Beverages breaks ground on new plant

Varun Beverages, PepsiCo’s bottling partner in India, has announced that construction has started on a new production facility in the northern state of Punjab.

Located in the city of Pathankot, the new greenfield plant will add in-house production capacity for Tropicana fruit juices, Quaker Oats milk drinks and Gatorade energy drinks, according to a report in the Economic Times. The factory will reportedly be the first fully backward integrated facility in India to manufacture fruit juices and milk drinks alongside carbonated soft drinks at a single location.

Commenting on the move, Varun Beverages Chairman Ravi Jaipuria said: “[The] juice market in India is expected to show strong double-digit growth. The setting-up of this production facility is in-line with our endeavour to strengthen our presence in fast growing categories. The addition of these product categories to our portfolio will result in better asset usage as the seasonality in these categories is relatively lower and will augment our return ratios and profitability metrics going forward”.

According to data on its website, Varun Beverages currently operates 15 plants across India, mostly concentrated in the northern states of the country.

Source: Economic Times / Varun Beverages