Current Affairs 6th May 2017

Current Affairs 6th May 2017 - Important Points

•  PepsiCo India forays into Dairy Products with - Oats-Based Milk Beverage
• Who has been appointed Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University? - Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Current Affairs 6th May 2017 - Details

PepsiCo India forays into Dairy Products with - Oats-Based Milk Beverage

PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd, the maker of Quaker Oats, Lays chips and carbonated beverages like Pepsi, entered the Indian dairy market by launching Quaker Oats Milk, a ready-to-drink beverage that combines milk and oats on 5th May 2017. The company will be selling intially sell two flavours of Quaker Oats Milk in 180 ml on-the-go cartons and will market them in India’s top cities and towns.

Besides Quaker Oats, PepsiCo is considering launching dairy-based beverages under other brands, including Tropicana. The company is also working on “fusions” (a mixed beverage with milk, fibre, fruits, and more), Indian dairy-based products like chhaas and lassi, and beverages catering to regional tastes.

Important Highlights

• PepsiCo has been selling dairy products in some markets elsewhere in the world, but it has so far stayed away from the same business in India. 
• The company is entering the Indian dairy market at a time when domestic companies with big retail networks like ITC Ltd and Tata Global Beverages Ltd are also preparing to tap the value-added dairy segment. 
• In the past, foreign multinationals that tried to have an edge over Indian dairy market, have found that the market is dominated by cooperatives like the Gujarat Cooperative Milk Marketing Federation Ltd that owns the Amul brand.
• The advantage of PepsiCo is its strong distribution and retail presence with 2.5 million outlets.

Who has been appointed Vice Chancellor of Ashoka University? - Pratap Bhanu Mehta

Ashoka University named Pratap Bhanu Mehta as its Vice Chancellor (VC) on 4th May 2017. Mehta is a renowned public intellectual and Centre head for Policy Research, a Delhi-based think-tank. Mehta will take charge from 1st July 2017 at the Sonepat, Haryana-based university. He will be the second VC of the liberal arts university since its inception after Rudrangshu Mukherjee.

More about Ashoka University

• Ashoka University is a fully residential interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary research university.
• University is located in Sonepat, Haryana.
• The university is recognized by UGC, the Government of India and the Haryana Government.