In slowdown,Pepsico gears up in Bengal

Pepsico has decided to invest Rs 250 crore more in its potato chips plant at Sankrail in Howrah district. Pepsi chips is sold with the brand name of Fritolay.

A delegation from the company led by Sanjeev Chadda,its chairman of the Indian and Bangladesh region,on Wednesday met Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and discussed the proposal.

Pepsico has already invested Rs 500 crore in its potato chips and beverage plants in the state. While the potato chips factory is at Sankrail,the beverage factory is located at Sonarpur in South 24-Parganas district.

The new investment will give a boost to potato production in the state. While the company at present procures 9000 tonnes of potato from the state every year,of which 5,000 tonnes is sent to Punjab for the chips factory there,the company will now procure 20,000 tonnes more from West Bengal.

With the new investment proposal,the Sankrail unit will be Pepsico’s largest plant in Asia.

Potatoes are sourced from farmers in Hooghly,Howrah,Burdwan,Bankura and Birbhum districts in the state.

“Fifty per cent of the income of those farmers who sell potato to Pepsico comes from this company,” said an official.

However,Pepsico officials are tightlipped about the proposal. “Ours was a courtesy call. I don’t want to say anything more on that,” Vivek Bharati,the executive director of the company,told The Indian Express.