With two teams suspended from the IPL, global giant PepsiCo today said it expects the issues surrounding the event to be addressed swiftly, even as reports suggested it may pull out as the title sponsor of the cricketing league.
Earlier this week, star-studded Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) were suspended from the IPL by a Supreme Court-appointed committee in a clean up of cricket hit by the 2013 betting scam involving their top officials Gurunath Meiyappan and Raj Kundra.
"We remain committed to ethical conduct in sport and expect that issues surrounding IPL are adequately and swiftly addressed. The faith of cricket fans is important and needs to be restored in the interest of the game," a PepsiCo India spokesperson said in a statement.
When asked if the company is thinking not to align with the event in any manner going ahead, the spokesperson said: "We do not comment on speculation. We have not seen the copy of the complete order and hence will not be able to comment any further at this stage."
PepsiCo had pipped telecom major Bharti Airtel in 2012 to become the new title sponsor of the league, with a winning bid of Rs 396.8 crore, for the five seasons starting 2013.
Meiyappan, a former Team Principal of India Cements Ltd (ICL)-owned franchise CSK, and Kundra, co-owner of Jaipur IPL that runs Rajasthan Royals (RR), were suspended for life from any matches conducted by BCCI.
The IPL, which has eight teams now, could go in for inclusion of two more franchises under a new arrangement that could include players from the two suspended teams.
PepsiCo sells various brands like Pepsi, 7UP, Mirinda and Mountain Dew in India. It also sells snacks under Lehar, Uncle Chipps and Kurkure brands, among others.
