India is “high-demand market”: PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta

New Delhi: India is a "high-demand market" for global food and beverage maker PepsiCo and the company is investing in the country to scale up infrastructure, its Chairman and CEO Ramon Laguarta said on Thursday.

PepsiCo is investing in its brands to capture the growth opportunity, he said on an investor call.

"We continue to see a lot of growth in many parts of the AMESA region, in particular India is a big growth space for us and it is an investment area for sure," Laguarta said.

"The opportunity is massive if you take a decade's perspective and we are putting infrastructure on the ground and investing on the brands to make sure that we can build scale to capture... what is going to be, I think, a high-demand market for many, many years," he added.

PepsiCo on Thursday reported a double-digit growth in beverages volume in India in the second quarter of the 2024 calendar year, thereby leading to a 2% overall rise in the Africa, Middle East & South Asia region (AMESA).

The company also said its convenient foods unit volume grew double-digit in India in the April-June period.

"Beverage unit volume grew 2% (in Africa, Middle East & South Asia - AMESA region), primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India, partially offset by a high-single-digit decline in Pakistan, a low-single-digit decline in the Middle East and a mid-single-digit decline in Nigeria," the company said in a regulatory filing.

The company said its convenient foods unit volume grew 1% in AMESA in the quarter, primarily reflecting double-digit growth in India and low-single-digit growth in South Africa, partially offset by a double-digit decline in the Middle East and a low-single-digit decline in Pakistan.

"For the second quarter, developing and emerging markets such as Egypt and Poland each delivered double-digit organic revenue growth, India and Brazil delivered high-single-digit growth, Thailand, and Pakistan each delivered mid-single-digit growth while Mexico and South Africa delivered low-single-digit growth," the company in its earnings statement.

International developed markets such as Australia and the UK each delivered low-single-digit organic revenue growth, it added.

"Year-to-date, we held or gained savory snack share in China, India, Brazil, Australia, and Pakistan, and for beverages, we held or gained share in Australia, South Korea, China, Thailand, Pakistan, Egypt, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, the UK and Brazil," the company added.

Overall, the company posted a marginal rise in net sales at USD 22.5 billion with a net income attributable to it USD 3.08 billion.