PepsiCo revamps UP plans

PepsiCo India, through its soft drink Mountain Dew, is all set to explore the markets of Uttar Pradesh. The company has plans for the multi-crore cold drink market of the state.

"Uttar Pradesh is a big market given the size of the population in the state. It is a very important area for us and we also have big plans for it," said Pratik Pota, executive vice president (marketing-flavors), PepsiCo India.

Pota said markets of the north India are better than that of the south, especially Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. Uttar Pradesh East alone accounts for over Rs 450-500 crore business in the cold drink market, which becomes over 750 crore, considering the whole of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand together.

According to Pota the cold drink industry this year is growing compared to previous years, but also accepted that the pace has slowed a bit.

A large range of choice for consumers, growth in juice and health drink segment and people becoming more inclined towards health products were some reasons he sited for the diminished pace of growth.

"But we have good numbers as far as our growth figure is concerned. We have growth rate of over 20 per cent per annum for the current fiscal," he added Pota was in town to launch the 'Under the Crown' (UTC) promotion of the company, to be held across the country for Mountain Dew.

The promotion will see one winner take away the grand prize of a special Designer Rally Jeep.

Commenting on Mountain Dew's new initiative, he said, "The objective of this promotion is to generate trials for the new stronger Dew and therby, further fuel growth for the brand."

The promotion requires consumers to buy a 200 ml or 300 ml bottle of Mountain Dew and look under the crown for prizes. Every crown has a guarantee prize.

PepsiCo has also tied up with Reliance Web Worlds, under which a prize of Reliance World internet voucher worth Rs 30 free, can be redeemed across 240 Reliance outlets in the country. The UTC promotion is valid till the end of next month across India.