Food and beverages major PepsiCo India on Sunday said it plans to invest Rs 514 crore over the next three years to set up a greenfield snacks manufacturing plant in Uttar Pradesh. The new investment plan is in line with PepsiCo's goal to double its snacks business in the country by 2022 and is expected to help create over 1,500 jobs, both direct and indirect, the company said in a statement.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the project was signed between the company and the Uttar Pradesh government at the ground-breaking ceremony of the investor summit in the state in the presence of Home Minister Amit Shah and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, it added.

PepsiCo India President and CEO Ahmed ElSheikh said, "PepsiCo is committed to growing its food and beverage business sustainably in India. We have a long relationship with the people of Uttar Pradesh. As we look to double our snacks business over the next few years, we intend to invest Rs 514 crore approximately to expand our footprint in Uttar Pradesh."

The company said as part of this project, PepsiCo India would expand its backward integration with local farmers and help bring agricultural best practices to enable socio-economic growth for potato farmers in Uttar Pradesh.

"To enable the supply chain, the company will set up a cold storage facility and this would also give an impetus to the development of ancillary and other support industries in the state," it added.

PepsiCo India currently sources all the potato used in Lay's and Uncle Chipps from local farmers under its agri programme through which it works with over 24,000 farmers across 13 states through various agriculture and sourcing initiatives.