PepsiCo places its chips in southern markets with local tastes, food habits

The company finesses the regional game for Lay's and Kurkure, acquires local tastes and habits to beat back competition from home grown snack makers

With southern markets on its radar, PepsiCo India is drilling down into local tastes and food habits to develop local and hyperlocal variants while rethinking its positioning tactics. It has just launched a variant for Lay’s that seeks to replace the traditional papad (rice and lentil crispies) as a meal-time snack, for the Southern market. Lay’s Wafer Style comes close on the heels of its launch of another product aimed at the same market, Kurkure Masala Munch with gingelly (sesame seed) oil, a taste earlier catered to only by hyperlocal labels. 

What makes PepsiCo focus so keenly on the South