Calcutta, Jan. 14: Food and beverage company PepsiCo today announced its decision to pump an additional Rs 250 crore into its factory at Sankrail, Howrah.

PepsiCo subsidiary Frito-Lay manufactures and markets a variety of chips and snacks from the Rs 500-crore unit.

“We have conveyed our decision to the chief minister. He was pleased to know that the fresh investment would make the Sankrail site the largest FritoLay factory in Asia,” PepsiCo chairman Sanjeev Chadha said at Writers’ Buildings.

Production at the plant with a capacity of 1,250 tonnes a month will increase 30 per cent with the investment.

Over 4,000 farmers across Hooghly, Burdwan, Bankura and Birbhum now grow potatoes for PepsiCo. “Our partnership with Bengal’s farmers has worked wonderfully. We recently procured 9,000 tonnes of potato from Bengal for our Punjab plant,” said Chadha.