Varun Beverages Ltd (VBL), PepsiCo’s largest franchise bottler outside the US, has extended its exclusive bottling appointment and trademark license agreement with PepsiCo Inc. in India till April 30, 2049, the company said in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
The revised agreement replaces the earlier term that was valid till April 30, 2039.
“Varun Beverages Limited (“VBL”) and PepsiCo Inc. and its affiliates (“PepsiCo”) have entered into a revised Exclusive bottling appointment and trademark license agreement for India (“EBA”) on May 21, 2026,” the company said.
“The changes inter-alia include extension of the EBA for a term up to April 30, 2049, revised from earlier term up to April 30, 2039,” it added.
The company also said PepsiCo has removed a key restriction that earlier prevented VBL from undertaking businesses outside PepsiCo operations.
“The earlier EBA restricted VBL from carrying out any activity other than to act as an SPV for PepsiCo business, now this requirement is deleted in the revised EBA,” the filing said.
The development comes as Varun Beverages continues to expand aggressively across domestic and international markets amid strong demand for carbonated beverages and energy drinks. VBL bottles and distributes PepsiCo brands including Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Sting, Mirinda, 7UP and Tropicana across India and several overseas territories.
VBL-PepsiCo's deepening relationship
Varun Beverages has steadily emerged as PepsiCo’s biggest bottling partner outside the US and one of the beverage giant’s most important franchise operators globally. The Ravi Jaipuria-led company began its Pepsi bottling business in the late 1980s and formally consolidated the operations under Varun Beverages in 1995. Over the years, the partnership expanded beyond North India into a near-national footprint through multiple franchise acquisitions and territory transfers from PepsiCo.
A major turning point came in 2019 when PepsiCo transferred its company-owned bottling operations in South and West India to Varun Beverages, making VBL PepsiCo’s national bottling partner across almost the entire country. PepsiCo had then said the move would help create “synergies of scale, operational productivity and efficiency” while strengthening its asset-light operating model globally.
The partnership has since widened internationally. VBL now holds PepsiCo franchise rights across 27 Indian states and several overseas markets including Nepal, Sri Lanka, Morocco, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, while also handling distribution rights in parts of Africa. The company has increasingly focused on African expansion, manufacturing capacity additions and distribution scale-up to drive future growth.
In recent years, Varun Beverages has also explored adjacent categories beyond carbonated drinks. In 2025, VBL and PepsiCo were in discussions to expand their partnership into alcoholic ready-to-drink beverages in India and overseas markets.
