ITC, PepsiCo, Hershey line up big investments in India

Domestic and global firms, including ITC, PepsiCo and Hershey, on Friday announced plans to invest billions of dollars in India's food and agri sector, as they look to tap one of the world's fastest growing economies.

While diversified conglomerate ITC said that it would invest over Rs 10,000 crore to set up 20 integrated food processing and logistics facilities, PepsiCo reiterated that it would invest $2 billion along with its partners in the next five years.

US-based confectionery major Hershey Co said it is likely to invest $50 million in the next five years to grow and expand its presence in India.

The announcements came during the ongoing three-day World Food India event here.

ITC, which inked an MoU with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, said the planned 20 new integrated facilities will produce branded food products, including Aashirvaad atta, Sunfeast biscuits, YiPPee! noodles, Bingo! snacks, B Natural juices, and processed fruit and vegetables.

Bullish on the Indian market, ITC CEO Sanjiv Puri said, "With a population of 1.3 billion, India's consumption market is projected to triple to $4 trillion by 2025 with the bulk of expenditure going into food products."

Improvement in agricultural yields and increase in the level of processing from the current 10 per cent to 30 per cent can increase the GDP by as much as 5-fold, he added.

"I am happy to say we are going to invest over Rs 10,000 crore in setting up food processing facilities on a pan-India basis," he said.

Similarly, PepsiCO said it along with its partners will be investing $2 billion in India in the next five years, which is part of its previously announced investment plans.

"These investments in total are designed to accelerate our transformation journey towards a healthier portfolio," the company said, inking an MoU with the Ministry of Food Processing Industries.

Hershey, which has been selling its products such as milk shakes, syrups and spreads and brands such as Jumpin, Nutrine and Smart Cook in India since 2008, said the country is one of its key international focus markets.