News on Chips and Snacks from India

Farmers' rights activists on Tuesday planted FL-2027 seed potatoes on a plot of farmland in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to protest food and beverages major PepsiCo's reassertion of rights over the variety.

After discussions with the government, the Pepsico India has agreed to withdraw the cases against the potato farmers. In April Pepsico sued four farmers for cultivating a potato variety - FC5 - grown exclusively for its popular Lay's potato chips.

The legal battle between a number of potato farmers in Gujarat accused of illegally growing a proprietary variety and food and beverage manufacturer PepsiCo India may be headed for an out-of-court settlement.

Leading farmers unions and rights advocacy groups have demanded that the PepsiCo immediately withdraw all legal suits it has slapped on many potato farmers in different districts of Gujarat.

PepsiCo has sued three potato farmers in Gujarat complaining that they have been illegally growing and selling a variety of potato exclusively registered to Pepsico for the use of producing its Lays potato chips.

Kellogg's, the world's second-largest snack foods company, is exploring options to acquire a stake in India's snack manufacturer Haldiram's. This could be one of the biggest deals involving an Indian consumer brand.

Poor supply of potato in Madhya Pradesh in spot market and higher prices have escalated cost of production of chips manufacturers by over 10 per cent. The rise is likely to make packaged chips more expensive.

One of the snack factories of Agro Tech Foods limited, a subsidiary of Conagra Brands in India, was destroyed by fire Sunday.

Snacks and beverages manufacturer PepsiCo plans to invest $5 million by 2020 to expand its sustainable farming programme in India.

Despite being an early bird in branded packaged snacks, PepsiCo India faces tough competition in this category. The company bets on its Kurkure brand combined with local flavors to keep up with the competition.

The government in the Indian state Odisha has started producing potato variety ‘Chipsona’ on experimental basis in Koraput in anticipation of plans by Pepsico to establish a potato chips manufacturing unit in the region

The initial public offer (IPO) of Prataap Snacks received bids for 17.19 crore shares, data on the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) website showed. The IPO was oversubscribed 47.39 times.

Prataap Snacks initial share sale offer was oversubscribed 2.17 times on the second day of bidding on Monday, with still another day to go.

Indian snack manufacturer Prataap Snacks Ltd., the maker of Yellow Diamond potato chips, said its initial public offering will hit the markets in two months as it looks to expand operations and enter newer categories.

Bikanervala Foods Pvt. Ltd, which sells Indian sweets and savouries under the brand Bikano, has initiated discussions with private equity funds to raise as much as Rs.200 crore [PP: about 30 million USD], said two people familiar with the development.

The West-Bengal government (India) has recently abandoned its proposed potato processing unit in Hooghly's Sheoraphuli after no private company showed interest in the project.

It's still a month to go for Valentine's Day but Pepsico India is already ready to celebrate love, albeit, in a quirky way through its new Lay's campaign - 'Love to Love it'.

PepsiCo India is streamlining its snacks portfolio, creating two master brands: Lay's and Kurkure for western and Indian traditional salted snacks respectively.