PepsiCo India has obtainec approval from fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) for selling its bottling plants to Varun Beverages.

As per the deal, PepsiCo India’s franchisee, Varun Beverages, will acquire PepsiCo’s four bottling plants in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The proposed combination involves transfer of ownership of the bottling plants/factories, certain distribution rights and an undertaking to the existing bottler/ franchisee (Varun Beverages).

RJ Corp’s arm, Varun Beverages, will also have rights to distribute and sell Pepsi’s products in Chandigarh. In addition to that, it will buy an undertaking in Punjab from Aradhana Drinks and Beverages - a group company of PepsiCo India.

Presently, Varun Beverages operates PepsiCo bottling operations across parts of Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, North East, Goa, West Bengal and Delhi with nine plants in India. It also handles PepsiCo’s bottling operations in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Zambia, Morocco and Mozambique.