PepsiCo India aims at healthier product portfolio, to launch five new products by early 2017

US beverages and snacks major PepsiCo's Indian arm PepsiCo India will launch five new products in the market by early 2017. The group has a major focus on nutrition and building a healthier portfolio of products.

"We are moving as an organisation towards creating a healthier portfolio. we have been working on developing products after understanding the local food palette and need for whole grains and nutrition in the Indian diet," PepsiCo India VP-Nutrition Category Deepika Warrier told PTI.

"We are looking at launching 4-5 new products by end thisyear or beginning of next year," Warrier added.

She further said, "We believe in offering a range ofchoices to our customers... Clearly there is a ready categorymomentum (for nutrition backed products). We have seen thatnutrition backed products are growing much faster. We need totap that momentum."

PepsiCo will launch new products to address whole grainneeds in the Indian diet, fruits and vegetables gaps, andcreate familiar Indian breakfast recipes healthier with oats. Quaker Oats figures prominently in PepsiCo's nutritiondivision plans.

The company has appointed Chef Vikas Khanna as its nutrition brand ambassador. The company has recently launchedtwo new flavours of oats viz Chaat style and Curry Magic,co-created with the chef.

Elaborating on oats category, Warrier said: "Oats is thefastest growing cereal sub-segment and is reallyunder-penetrated and there is a huge opportunity to grow. Theoats category has now reached a certain scale in the country but penetration levels are still low."

"As the category leader, we are taking steps to grow thesegment. We have taken initiatives such as making the productmore appealing for Indian taste palette and launching smallerpacks priced at Rs 10 to bring in new customers," she added.

According to industry sources, oats are currently a Rs 270 crore market, which is less than one-third of thebreakfast cereal market.
Brands under PepsiCo's nutrition division include Quaker,Tropicana and Gatorade.