PepsiCo is aggressively adopting generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology to accelerate its product development and launch timelines, according to Chief Strategy and Transformation Officer Athina Kanioura. The company behind brands such as Pepsi, Tropicana, and Lays is leveraging GenAI across areas such as productivity, marketing, customer service, and feedback analysis to bring new products to market faster.
PepsiCo plans to expand its back-office operations in India, opening a third capability center in the country this year in addition to its existing Hyderabad and Gurugram facilities. The Hyderabad center employs around 3,000 focused on AI, process transformation, and emerging tech, while Gurugram handles software engineering. PepsiCo will elevate India leadership roles and leverage more Indian talent across its global operations as part of this expansion.
GenAI has enabled PepsiCo to shrink marketing campaign cycles from 6-9 months down to just 3-4 months. For products such as Cheetos, GenAI helped optimize shape, flavor and incorporate customer feedback to perfect the offering while sustaining margins and driving revenue – resulting in up to 15% performance uplift in some cases. Kanioura expects GenAI to boost industry revenues by 10-15% depending on maturity.
In the U.S., PepsiCo has already launched a new non-alcoholic product driven by GenAI insights. The technology allows synthesizing more data to identify opportunities across categories aligned with consumer demands. PepsiCo aims to use GenAI to better analyze data, find synergies, and tailor offerings.
The India expansion comes as PepsiCo’s new India chief Jagrut Kotecha takes over amidst intense competition in snack offerings where the company has lost volume and market share. With around 2,400 employees and 4,000 contractual staff across four sales units and manufacturing plants in India currently, PepsiCo is hoping GenAI can drive innovation to recapture growth.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
