PepsiCo to deliver Lay’s, Kurkure, Uncle Chipps to doorsteps in rural India; to boost employment too

The US-based company has partnered with Common Service Centers to bring e-commerce to doorsteps of rural India.

FMCG giant PepsiCo will deliver its famous snacking brands including Lay’s, Kurkure and Uncle Chipps to customer’s doorsteps in rural India. The US-based company has partnered with Common Service Centers to bring e-commerce to doorsteps of rural India, it said. The pilot project has already gone live in Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh and 264 Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) to promote rural delivery and entrepreneurship. The products will now be available in the hinterland and will not only boost rural connectivity but also employment opportunities.

“To enable last mile doorstep delivery in rural India and encourage e-entrepreneurship, PepsiCo India today announced its partnership with Common Service Centres(CSC), under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), GoI,” the company said. The CSC are crucial to the government’s Digital India programme and are helping in the government’s vision to take digital inclusion to rural India. The e-commerce store will have a built-in master catalogue from where the customers can look for required products in their locality using a GPS and can place an order on the Grameen eStore app.

CSC Grameen eStore initiative is helping to build an “Atmanirbhar Bharat” by creating rural employment in logistics through CSC eStore. The same has also been ensuring the e-commerce services are made available in rural areas. These e-stores have carried out more than nine lakh orders to date amounting to Rs 70 crore. “Partnering with PepsiCo India will enable all our eStores to get the range of food products and ensure the strengthening of the supply chain even in interior and Tribal areas,” Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), CSC SPV said. CSC stores have also been instrumental in providing education, healthcare, agriculture and financial services to villages in India.

Earlier in July, PepsiCo’s chief rival Coca-Cola had also taken the CSC route to expand its reach in rural areas. The company had also partnered with CSCs to sell its beverage portfolio including Fanta, Sprite etc to rural India via e-commerce.