PepsiCo bottler Varun Beverages will set up a new food and drinks manufacturing facility in the Indian state of Maharashtra.
The project will involve an investment of approximately Rs21bn ($221.3m) and cover roughly 125 acres in Arvi, according to a post on X by Maharashtra’s chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis.
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It is expected to create 550 “direct” jobs.
“The project will boost agro-industries, packaging, transport and cold-chain infrastructure, while generating demand for locally sourced fruits and milk,” the chief minister wrote.
Sumit Wankhede, a legislator representing Arvi, said in a Facebook post the project will be the company’s “largest” facility in India.
Varun Beverages is planning to manufacture PepsiCo products, including soft drinks, packaged water, fruit juices, savoury snacks and noodles at the site.
It is also expected to produce packaged milk, yoghurt, cheese, butter, ice cream.
“Its output will serve the domestic market as well as export markets worldwide,” Wankhede’s post read.
Wankhede told The Times of India the site will have an annual capacity of 50 million cases of soft drinks, 15 million cases of packaged water, 15,000 tonnes of snacks, and 30,000 tonnes of dairy.
A groundbreaking ceremony is planned for April.
Just Drinks contacted Varun Beverages for further details but had not received a response at the time of publication.
The proposed investment follows the company’s announcement of its third-quarter results on 30 October.
For the three months ended 30 September, Varun Beverages reported a 33.3% increase in consolidated revenue from operations to Rs68.16bn. Net profit rose 13.5% year on year to Rs8.31bn.
In May, Varun Beverages secured a ten-year extension of its exclusive bottling and trademark licence deal with PepsiCo in India.
The revision also removed the clause that has prevented Varun Beverages from pursuing non-PepsiCo operations.
