Global beverages and snacking giant PepsiCo has launched an innovating packaging for the first time in India for any comparable brand in the category. Other than the label and cap, the entire plastic bottle of the newly launched Pepsi® Black™ range is made out of recycled plastic making it rPET. The all new 500ml product, priced at Rs. 20, would be available at select outlets across the country including e-commerce portals. George Kovoor, Senior Vice President, Beverages and Sustainability, PepsiCo India said, “We are encouraged by the measures taken by the Government to promote a circular economy in India. We are proud to launch the 100% rPET bottles of Pepsi Black. This an important milestone in our sustainability journey, backed by our intent to create a positive value chain and this launch is yet another step in that direction. We shall learn and evolve as we continue our endeavors to build a robust ecosystem while expanding the use of recycled content in our packaging.” Driven by its ‘Winning with pep+’ philosophy, the company recognizes the importance of taking comprehensive efforts to reduce, recycle and re-invent its packaging. PepsiCo India is dedicated to developing innovative solutions, reducing its carbon footprint, and embracing sustainable practices like reuse and refill, that will inspire consumers, aligning with its long-term commitments to protect the environment. PepsiCo entered India in 1989 and has hence grown to become one of the largest food and beverage businesses in India. PepsiCo India’s diverse portfolio includes iconic brands like Pepsi, Lay’s, Kurkure, Tropicana 100%, Gatorade, and Quaker. Globally, the company reported USD 86.39 Bn in revenues for the same period. For the AMESA region – Africa, Middle East & South Asia, which includes India, the contribution to total sales was 5.9% or USD 6.43 Bn. India is one of the fastest growing regions for the company, given that the country has a very young consumer profile coupled with snacking habits and highest discretionary spends.

E-commerce major Amazon will host Prime Day — its annual sale event — in India on July 15-16. The company will launch over 45,000 products from over 400 Indian and global brands. The announcement of the Prime Day event in India comes at a time when 900 workers at Amazon UK plan to strike for three days (July 11-13). The e-commerce giant kicks off its flagship sales in the UK on July 11-12. This year, Prime Day for Amazon is special as it completes a decade in the country.  “In India, we started Prime Day in 2017 with 100 product launches. This year, we will have over 45,000 such launches. The event has resonated with customers as well as sellers and brands,” says Akshay Sahi, director-Prime and delivery experience, Amazon India. In 2022, the company launched 30,000 products. Some of the global brands that will participate include the likes of OnePlus, iQOO, Realme Narzo, Samsung, Hopscotch, American Tourister, Maybelline, Tata, and Nestlé. The two-day event will see products launched across categories like electronics, fashion and beauty, groceries, Amazon devices, and home and kitchen at discounted rates. “Last year, 126,000 sellers participated in Prime Day, while 33,000 of them recorded their highest-ever sales during the event. That brought a new focus into Prime Day for us,” says Sahi, adding, “In the lead-up to every Prime Day, we see an uptick in our Prime memberships. Our sales run rate for these memberships increased 1.5fold last year.” Although Prime Day has been a much-awaited event among Indian online shoppers, last year’s sales were marred by delays in delivery. This year, the company is claiming that customers will enjoy its fastest speeds ever in India.  Prime members ordering from 25 cities will be able to enjoy same-day or next-day delivery of their orders. These include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Delhi, Faridabad, Gandhi Nagar, Guntur, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Kochi, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, Nagpur, Noida, Patna, Pune, Thane, Thiruvananthapuram, Vijayawada, and Visakhapatnam. Prime members shopping from most tier II cities will have their Prime Day delivery within 24-48 hours, says the company. Amazon Prime is a subscription membership that offers premium services to its customers. In India, Prime members get free one-day delivery on over 4,000,000 products and unlimited 5 per cent cashback on all purchases using their co-branded ICICI Bank credit card, among other benefits. Although Sahi did not reveal the total number of Prime members in India, Amazon’s global Prime memberships crossed 200 million after last year’s event. The company expects memberships to increase this year as well. This Prime Day, over 2,000 of the new products will be from small and midsize businesses (SMBs), says Sahi. The SMBs will launch these products under Amazon programmes like Launchpad, Karigar, Saheli, and local shops with discounts of up to 70 per cent on home and kitchen, up to 60 per cent on fashion and accessories, up to 50 per cent on food and health care, up to 70 per cent on electronics.

India currently has the world’s largest population and one of the best working population to children and elderly ratio. The country’s dependency ratio will also be one of the lowest over the next two decades. On these demographics, Santanu Sengupta, Goldman Sachs Research’s India economist remarked, “So that really is the window for India to get it right in terms of setting up manufacturing capacity, continuing to grow services, continuing the growth of infrastructure.” However, the large labour force could also pose a challenge if the labour participation rate does not rise. The labour force participation rate has gone down over the last 15 years and the participation of women is significantly lower than men. India can overcome this challenge by creating work opportunities while providing training and upskilling to labour force. A rise in labour force participation can increase the growth potential further.   In addition to favourable demographics, innovation will also play a key role. Likewise, capital investment will also be a significant growth driver. “On this front, the government has done the heavy-lifting in the recent past. But given healthy balance sheets of private corporates and banks in India, we believe that the conditions are conducive for a private sector capex cycle”, said Santanu. He added, “There’s a lot of infrastructure creation that is going on now, primarily led by the government’s focus on setting up infrastructure in terms of roads, railways and so forth. We believe this is also the appropriate time for the private sector to scale up on creating capacities in both manufacturing and services which has the potential of creating jobs and absorbing the large labour force.”  Santanu also spoke about net exports and commodity prices as other key factors to decode the Indian economy. Until now, India’s growth is mainly domestic-demand-driven and its current account remains in deficit. Also, since India imports most of its commodities, a global rise in commodity prices results in macro imbalances. However, in recent times the macro environment is strengthening with the rise in service exports and inflation targeting that have somewhat helped.

In a major shift in its strategy, Chinese mobile device manufacturer Xiaomi is set to begin exporting ‘made in India’ phones to West Asian countries for the first time by the end of the September quarter, sources close to the company said. Xiaomi, the third-largest smartphone brand in India in terms of shipment volumes, after Samsung and Vivo, is in advanced talks with Dixon Technologies and other homegrown electronic manufacturing services (EMS) players for local production of its phones. The firm is also aiming to double its localisation levels, excluding semiconductors, to 70 per cent in two years,

Heavy rain crippled online deliveries in urban centres, including Delhi and the National Capital Region, swathes of which were flooded by the worst deluge in decades over the weekend. This cut off consumers who have come to depend on them for daily essentials, food and medicine over the past few years and especially since the pandemic. With the drainage system overwhelmed, roads were inundated with water at waist height and more. Most delivery services such as Swiggy, Zomato, Zepto, Blinkit and Milk Basket stopped taking orders as large clusters were unserviceable. Elsewhere, there were extended delays, said executives at ecommerce platforms, besides grocery and restaurant companies. “Our operations have been affected due to rains in some parts of the country. We hope to be back soon,” food delivery platform Zomato, which also owns instant grocery delivery platform Blinkit, tweeted on Sunday, in response to multiple consumer complaints. The monsoon has been lashing northern India over the past few days leading to deaths, landslides, property destruction and people rendered homeless. Restaurants Badly HitThe rain has been heavier than normal owing to the confluence of two weather systems – monsoon winds and a western disturbance, according to the India Meteorological Department. Himachal Pradesh is the worst hit with about 20 people dead, PTI said. The weather has impacted services due to infrastructure constraints and difficult road conditions, said a Zomato executive. “We are trying our best to be serviceable at this time,” this executive said. Restaurants were badly hit with few guests braving the rain in any case. “Deliveries are more or less at a standstill in rain-impacted cities as logistics are severely hampered,” said Anjan Chatterjee, chairman of Speciality Restaurants, which operates Mainland China and Oh! Calcutta. “Dine-ins are anyway affected because people are unable to move out of their homes. We hope this is a short-term phenomenon and the situation will be normal soon.” Besides deliveries, executives said operations and supplies were impacted due to the lack of adequate public infrastructure support. Consumers across most parts of the country took to Twitter about being unable to get essentials delivered at a time when they were unable to move out of their homes. Cities such as Gurgaon announced work from home and online school late on Sunday, putting further pressure on online deliveries. Responding to aggrieved consumers on delays and rain surcharges over the past few days, Swiggy posted multiple texts on its social media handle: “We levy the rain fee to get more delivery executives on the streets during rains… Delays are due to rains,” and so on. The rain-infrastructure-led disruptions come at a time when quick commerce platforms such as Swiggy’s Instamart, Zomato’s Blinkit, Zepto and BigBasket’s BBnow have been growing faster than traditional ecommerce platforms, say companies selling daily essentials and grocery products. “Even though we are seeing the number of consumer orders have increased, as many are working from home and people generally cannot step out, it’s the deliveries that are being disrupted in rain-impacted markets,” said Mayank Shah, senior category head at cookies and confectionery products maker Parle Products. Ecommerce platforms said they have equipped riders with basic aids such as raincoats and emergency and medical support. “During monsoons and any other extreme weather conditions, our primary focus is on safety,” said Vikas Sharma, chief operating officer at quick commerce platform Zepto. “While the timelines may be slightly affected given the traffic congestion and waterlogging, our proprietary tech system helps minimise the impact by blocking the affected routes and providing riders with safer alternative routes.” Industry executives estimate the ecommerce grocery market at Rs 3,000 crore and growing, with Swiggy Instamart servicing close to 450,000 daily orders, while that of Zepto are at 300,000. Blinkit delivered 31.6 million orders in the quarter ended December 2022, Zomato said in a company update. The India Meteorological Department has predicted heavy rain through the week, citing western disturbances and high-speed winds. Punjab has ordered closure of all schools till July 13 and the Chandigarh administration has advised public and private offices to consider closing down temporarily.