PepsiCo India suing farmers for growing potatoes used in Lays chips

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The lawsuits were filed earlier this month by the company's Indian subsidiary and will be heard Friday by a district court in the state of Gujarat, in western India. PepsiCo (DYNAMISM) claims that the farmers being sued are not among the thousands of people allowed to grow branded potatoes.
But unions and farmer activists are fighting back against the food and beverage maker, marking the last battle in India between local businesses and major global players. Small Indian retailers have protested companies like Walmart (WMT) and Amazon (AMZN) – pretend that US retailers are unfairly destroying their business – and have even managed to get the government to impose some restrictions.
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PepsiCo, which owns brands such as Pepsi, Lays, Gatorade and Quaker Oats, reportedly claimed 10 million rupees ($ 143,000) in damages from each farmer.

"PepsiCo is the largest buyer of industrial-grade potatoes in India and one of the first companies to work with thousands of local farmers to produce a specific protected potato variety," said Thursday at CNN Business a spokesman for this company. "In this case, we have taken legal action against people who were illegally dealing with our registered variety."

The spokesperson did not comment on the damages claimed by the company.

Farmers' associations and activists in India have called on the Indian government to step in and take action against PepsiCo. In a letter to the government released earlier this week and shared with CNN Business, CNN Business said that farmers' rights to grow and sell branded plants are protected by Indian agricultural laws.

"We think that bullying and legal harassment of farmers occur because farmers are not fully aware of [their] The letter also states that PepsiCo sent private detectives to accused farmers posing as potential buyers, secretly recording a video of them and taking samples of potatoes.

PepsiCo did not comment on these allegations.

The company's actions are "against food sovereignty" and "the sovereignty of the nation," said Kapil Shah of Jatan, one of the advocacy groups helping to defend farmers.

"We will fight, regardless of the size of the company," Shah said. "Pepsi made a huge mistake."

Swati Gupta contributed to this report.

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