Pompeo awards Pepsico India for saving water

US SECRETARY of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday (31) presented the prestigious award for corporate excellence (ACE) to Pepsico India for its efforts to save more than 17 billions of litres of water through community water programs and positively impacting thousands of community members.

Established in 1999, the ACE recognizes US companies that promote and uphold high standards as responsible members of their communities where they do business.

“Today we honour one of PepsiCo's regional arms, PepsiCo India. It is India's largest purchaser of potatoes. And it uses this to power good, sourcing sustainably from 24,000 small Indian farmers. It also has a program aimed at replenishing water in stressed areas, through which it has restored nearly five billion litres of water,” he said.

Other recipients of the award are Chambers Federation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Procter and Gamble Asia Pacific in Singapore and Agilis Partners in Uganda.

“Our four winners today demonstrate the power of free enterprise. They demonstrate to our foreign partners that working with our businesses is a path to prosperity and stability,” Pompeoe said at the awards ceremony held at the Foggy Bottom headquarters of the State Department.

These companies, he said represents America's free market values by creating good jobs here in the US and around the world, investing sustainably, operating transparently, and offering the highest quality products and services in the world.

PepsiCo India has been named the global ACE winner in sustainable operations in the multinational enterprise category for its sustainable farming initiative in India.

The award recognises the company's effort to save more than 17 billion litres of water through its community water programs and replenishing over five billion litres of water, positively impacting 60,000 community members.

(PTI)