Lucknow, Jul 28 (IANS): Beverage major PepsiCo India on Sunday announced it will set up a greenfield snacks manufacturing plant in Uttar Pradesh with a total investment of around Rs 514 crore over the next three years.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here with representatives of the Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday.

"The new investment plan is in line with PepsiCo's goal to double its snacks business in the country by 2022 and is expected to help create over 1,500 jobs (direct and indirect)," the company said in a statement.

"As part of this project, PepsiCo India would expand its backward integration with local farmers and help bring agricultural best practices to enable socio-economic growth for potato farmers in Uttar Pradesh.

"To enable the supply chain, the company will set up a cold storage facility and this would also give an impetus to the development of ancillary and other support industries in the state," it added.

The beverage major said that its snacks manufacturing operation in Uttar Pradesh would also expand the company's footprint in the state of collaborative farming of potato.