MegaBrands · Salty snacks and namkeen

Lay’s: How a Farm-First Potato Chip Sets India’s Benchmark in Salty Snacks

Lay’s, selected as the Mega Brand for Salty snacks and namkeen by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC, has been sold in India since 1995. PepsiCo India says every potato behind its chips is grown in India, by more than 27,000 farmers across 14 states.

By WCRC Leaders Editorial · Published October 2026 · 9 min read

At a glance

Lay’s is the potato chip brand of PepsiCo, sold in India by PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd, headquartered in Gurugram. The brand began with Herman Lay in Nashville in 1932 and came to India in 1995. Led in India by Jagrut Kotecha, CEO of PepsiCo India & South Asia, Lay’s sources its chip potatoes from more than 27,000 Indian farmers in 14 states. In September 2026 PepsiCo opened its fifth food plant in India, in Assam. Lay’s is the Mega Brand for Salty snacks and namkeen in WCRC MegaBrands.

Lay’s begins with a potato, and the brand keeps reminding Indian shoppers of it. Its newest packs say “Made with Finest Potatoes”, and its latest campaigns put farmers and soil in front of the consumer. That farm-first idea runs through the brand’s story in a market it entered more than three decades ago.

The brand’s story starts in the United States. In 1932, a 23-year-old Herman Lay started a snack food business in Nashville. In 1939 he formed H. W. Lay & Company, renamed Lay’s Potato Chips in 1944. The company merged with the Frito Company to form Frito-Lay in 1961, and Frito-Lay joined Pepsi-Cola to create PepsiCo in 1965. PepsiCo entered India in 1989, and Lay’s arrived on Indian shelves in 1995.

In 2025, PepsiCo India reported total revenue of Rs 9,789 crore across its snacks and beverages businesses.

WCRC MegaBrands covers 501 categories in India and selects one benchmark brand in each. It looks at brands through five pillars: Brand Positioning & Recall; Consumer Trust & Sentiment; Product, Innovation & Delivery; Sustainability, Governance & ESG; and Digital & Financial Soundness. Lay’s has been selected as the Mega Brand for Salty snacks and namkeen by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting). Here is how Lay’s record lines up with each pillar.

Pillar 1: How Lay’s Owns Share of Mind

Brand Positioning & Recall · weighted 28% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Lay’s is easy to spot by the sun and red ribbon on its packs. In early 2026 Lay’s brought to India what PepsiCo describes as the largest global redesign in the brand’s history. It kept the sun and ribbon, added sun-inspired “Lay’s Rays” graphics, a refined logo and a custom typeface, and gave the potato and other ingredients more prominence on the pack. The new packs reached retail, e-commerce and quick commerce from the first week of March 2026.

The second source of recall is taste made local. Lay’s sells international styles in India, but it also built flavours for Indian palates, India’s Magic Masala among them. The brand has long invited consumers into that process. In 2008 it ran “Fight for Your Flavour”, and in 2009-10 the “Give Us Your Dillicious Flavour” contest asked consumers to suggest new flavours, with the public voting for the winner.

The third is a steady stream of new ideas and familiar faces. Over the years Lay’s has worked with actor Saif Ali Khan and cricketer M.S. Dhoni. In March 2025 it launched “Flavors of the World”, a limited run of Korean Chilli, Mexican Salsa and Mediterranean Pizza aimed at Gen Z and promoted during IPL 2025. In 2026, actor Ranbir Kapoor fronts the “Lay’s Ke Liye Kuchh Bhi” campaign that accompanies the new look.

Saumya Rathor, then Marketing Director for Lay’s at PepsiCo India, summed up the approach at the March 2025 launch: “Flavor is our language, and innovation is our craft.”

Pillar 2: Why India Trusts Lay’s

Consumer Trust & Sentiment · weighted 26% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Trust in Lay’s starts with what goes into the bag. PepsiCo India says all the potatoes for its chips are grown in India, and it works with more than 27,000 farmers across 14 states. The 2026 packs make that link visible, with farm-inspired backgrounds and the words “Made with Finest Potatoes”.

Saakshi Verma Menon, Chief Marketing Officer - Foods at PepsiCo India, explained the thinking behind the refresh in February 2026, in PepsiCo India’s announcement: “For nearly a century, Lay’s has believed that our extraordinary taste and product begins at the farm. Today, as part of the largest global refresh in our history, we’re bringing that belief to life in a powerful new way for consumers in India.” Aastha Bhasin, Marketing Director for the potato chips category, said the brand has a simple truth at its core: “it all starts with the humble potato.”

Lay’s has also brought the people behind the product onto the shelf. In May 2025 it released “Mitti Ki Chitthi”, a film framed as a letter from Mother Earth to the farmer. In September 2025 a limited edition of Lay’s Classic Salted packs carried hand-drawn portraits of Indian farmers, with a QR code that led to the film. As Rathor said when the film launched, “great chips begin with great soil.”

Ingredients have been part of that conversation too. In May 2024, PepsiCo India said it was trialling a blend of sunflower oil and palmolein in Lay’s, and that it was working to bring the sodium in its snacks below 1.3 mg per calorie by 2025.

Pillar 3: The Engine Behind Every Lay’s Pack

Product, Innovation & Delivery · weighted 20% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

A potato chip is only as good as its potato, so Lay’s delivery chain starts in the field. Through the Lay’s Smart Farm programme, PepsiCo India gives potato farmers a smartphone app that uses satellite imagery and historical data to give early warning of crop disease and to forecast yields ahead of harvest. The aim is to help farmers plan their inputs and protect their crop.

The factories are growing too. On 10 September 2026, PepsiCo opened a Rs 778 crore food plant at Nalbari in Assam. It is the company’s first food plant in Assam and its fifth in India, and it makes Lay’s chips. PepsiCo expects the plant to benefit more than 5,000 farmers through chip-grade potato sourcing. “Through this investment, we are strengthening our manufacturing footprint while creating a positive ripple effect across the value chain, from farmers and local businesses to women, young talent and communities,” Jagrut Kotecha, CEO of PepsiCo India & South Asia, said at the opening.

More capacity is planned. PepsiCo India has committed almost Rs 5,700 crore to investment between 2025 and 2030, and Kotecha has said a major portion will go to the snacks business. The projects include a concentrates plant in Madhya Pradesh, the Assam food plant and a planned snacks plant in Tamil Nadu. Kotecha said in May 2026 that the land bought in Tamil Nadu “will allow us to open a massive footprint in the South for our snacks business.”

Innovation keeps the range fresh. Limited editions such as the 2025 “Flavors of the World” came in Rs 10, Rs 20 and Rs 30 packs, sold through retail stores, e-commerce and quick commerce, the same channels that carried the 2026 packs. In May 2026 PepsiCo India launched Lay’s Mini Stix, the brand’s first stick-format potato snack in India, in Rs 5 and Rs 10 packs for general trade in North, East and West India.

Pillar 4: Lay’s and the Health of the Soil

Sustainability, Governance & ESG · weighted 16% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

Lay’s sustainability work begins underground. PepsiCo India promotes regenerative farming among its potato growers. Anukool Joshi, Director, Supply Chain Agro at PepsiCo India, described the aim in May 2025: “We work closely with farmers to promote regenerative practices that improve soil structure, optimise water and nutrient use, and reduce reliance on chemical inputs.”

That work has a practical form. In 2025 PepsiCo India opened Mitti Jaanch Kendras, soil-testing centres for farmers, in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. Under Project Mitti Didi, first reported from Hathras in Uttar Pradesh and later from West Bengal, rural women are trained to run soil tests and give farmers quick reports. “Soil is the starting point of everything we do in agriculture, and understanding it well is key to growing quality crops sustainably,” Joshi said in 2025.

Women are also central to the newest factory. PepsiCo has said it aims for more than 75% women representation in the workforce at the Nalbari plant.

The pack is changing as well. With the 2026 refresh, Lay’s in India is moving to a polyolefin-based, recycle-ready packaging structure.

On governance, Lay’s in India sits inside a registered Indian company that reports its results every year. PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd files its accounts with the Registrar of Companies, and the figures are reported in the national business press.

Pillar 5: Lay’s Growth With Financial Strength

Digital & Financial Soundness · weighted 10% in the MegaBrands framework · How MegaBrands measures this

PepsiCo does not publish revenue for Lay’s alone in India, but the company figures show the weight of its snacks business. In 2024, PepsiCo India Holdings reported revenue from operations of Rs 9,096.62 crore, of which snacks, a business that includes Lay’s, brought in Rs 6,889.66 crore. In 2025, the company reported total revenue of Rs 9,789 crore and profit after tax of Rs 905 crore.

The company is putting that strength back into the business. Its plan for 2025 to 2030 puts a major share of the money into the snacks business. “We are committed, and as a result, from 2025 to 2030, we have committed almost Rs 5,700 crore of investments,” Kotecha said in May 2026. In 2026 the company described India as one of PepsiCo’s top 13 markets worldwide.

Digital tools link the brand from farm to shopper. On the farm, the Smart Farm app sends satellite-based alerts to growers’ phones. On the shelf, QR codes on special packs connect consumers to farmer stories. Quick commerce and e-commerce now sit alongside traditional retail as launch channels for new Lay’s packs and flavours.

The Lay’s Benchmark

Every category has leaders. A MegaBrand is the brand its category is measured against. Lay’s holds that place in Indian salty snacks because its record is strong on every pillar at once. It is widely recognised, built on a clear farm-to-bag promise, backed by growing manufacturing capacity, invested in soil health and supported by a financially sound parent.

Above all, it shows that a global brand can grow in India by rooting itself in Indian fields. Thirty-one years after its Indian launch, Lay’s tells a simple story on its packs: it all starts with the potato, and the potato starts with an Indian farmer.

Powerfacts

More Questions About Lay’s

About Lay’s Lay’s is the potato chip brand of PepsiCo, founded by Herman Lay in 1932 and sold in India since 1995. In India it is made and marketed by PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd, headquartered in Gurugram, Haryana, which works with more than 27,000 potato farmers across 14 states and reported total revenue of Rs 9,789 crore in 2025. Lay’s has been selected as the Mega Brand for Salty snacks and namkeen by the Business Intelligence Unit of WCRC (World Centre for Research and Consulting).