Punjab is on the same latitude as Florida so we’re hoping it can be India’s Florida! There are trial crops going on right now.

We’re exploring apple and a couple of other fruits too. Our initiative ties in with the company’s water conservation agenda. PepsiCo India will be ‘positive water balance’ this year, which means that it will generate more water than all that its beverages consume in India. Both conserving and recycling — we have reduced water consumption to a third of what it was five years ago and (intend) to regenerate more water outside. We are most excited about direct seeding. When you think of paddy fields, what comes to your mind?

Flooded with lots of water!

Yes. Flooded with water. This method removes that phase entirely. There’s this machine which’s a Pespico innovation that seeds directly into the field and Pepsi is in the process of patenting the machine. Direct seeding saves as much as 30 per cent of water used in paddy cultivation. Agriculture uses 85-90 per cent of the water in India. Industry uses 4-6 per cent. Beverages use less than one per cent of that. The company has brought 5,000 acres of paddy across a few States under this kind of cultivation.

If half the paddy cultivation in our country is done that way, it will save more water than all industries combined in India use. In fact, we are looking at ways and means to build a multiplier effect.



Mukkavilli: On the potato side of the business, we’ve been doing contract farming initiatives — 15,000 farmers, and we anticipate that over the next three years, it’s going to more than double. Expansion beyond just numbers and acreage, it’s a combination of giving them inputs on agronomic practices, not fancy technology but simple …, going to other input partners, fertiliser, help them get insurance services, financing from banks on the basis of their tie-up with Pepsico. We’re not just in Punjab but in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab — we’re constantly trying new geographies so we can grow the model.

A longer term project is for oats of the right quality. It’s still a small market for oats, there are still many other (breakfast) options but there’s potential as people understand the goodness and benefits and its many uses. We’re still pretty much at the start of the journey. Now what we get here is imported from Australia and repackaged in Erode.

We are also working on new areas – post harvest. We’re piloting our first modern warehouse that we’ve collaborated with a third party with Frito Lay’s international partners that will be ready by the next potato season.

Earlier Pepsi and Coke were both claiming leadership as you were relying on different audit agencies — Nielsen and IMRB. Now with a single agency (Nielsen), it is established that Coca Cola leads — is this something you always knew or is this a surprise? Chadha: I wouldn’t like to comment, the fact is that there were different sources of share. There are different bases of measuring the share — dispatches, consumer offtake, primary sales, different pictures — all I’d say is that we have gained share as Pepsico last year …

How did Pepsi agree to having the same agency?

Actually, globally the typical way is to have a syndicated study, as the market develops, data and information gets more and more transparent — so we are not looking at what the numbers are but looking at performance.

Have you broken even at the operations level?

Yes, definitely.

How many more years will it take to clear off accumulated losses?

We’re ramping up very rapidly in terms of scale, and with the kind of growth we’re registering, it’ll be very soon that we’ll cover our investments, going forward. But equally, India remains a high priority market for Pepsi. Snacks already is the third largest business and beverages among the top five.

Does it help that you have an India-born CEO?

An Indian born CEO is a double-edged sword — Indra Nooyi is passionate about India, committed to India and understands India. So, we are fortunate to have a global CEO who understands India. It’s a double-edged sword as her expectations from her home country are higher. It’s like having a parent who loves you but expects the world from you.