Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Guwahati: PepsiCo India officially opened a Rs 787-crore food plant in Banekuchi, Nalbari, on September 10. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma attended the launch. The facility promises over 200 direct jobs and 500 indirect roles. Women will fill roughly 75 percent of the workforce. The state government will provide digital literacy training to 120 women.
Sarma acknowledged former Industries Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary for securing the project after laying the foundation stone on September 3, 2023. The plant marks a shift in production geography. "When you buy a packet of chips, you usually see that it has been manufactured in Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka or Maharashtra. From now on, you will see packets manufactured in Banekuchi, Assam, and these products will travel across the country," Sarma said.
The plant aims to scale up potato demand. PepsiCo currently needs 30,000 metric tonnes annually, but that figure should hit 70,000 metric tonnes by 2030. A partnership between the state, PepsiCo, and the State Bank of India will help 5,000 farmers get better seeds via Kisan Credit Cards. Officials also plan to build a Rs 35-crore cold storage unit with 10,000-tonne capacity.
Land remains a major headache. The government now plans to build land banks and industrial estates near highways and rail stations. Sarma wants to stop the exodus of local labor. He noted that the state recently repatriated 50 bodies of workers who died while employed in Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, and Kerala. Total state investments currently hover around Rs 3 lakh crore across energy, mining, and electronics. These projects could create 100,000 jobs.
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