By Arul Louis

New York, Nov 1 (IANS): PepsiCo India has been honoured by the US government for its environmentally sustainable operations that promotes water conservation.

The company received the Secretary of State's Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) for sustainable operation by a multi-national on Thursday in Washington.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that PepsiCo India was being honoured for using its position as India's largest purchaser of potatoes "to power good, sourcing sustainably from 24,000 small Indian farmers".

"It also has a programme aimed at replenishing water in stressed areas, through which it has restored nearly five billion litres of water," he said.

Multi-nationals from other countries operating in India do business differently than PepsiCo and instead of operating sustainably, "they brutalise the natural resources of their host country, cut costs, produce low-quality products, and leave behind pollution", Pompeo asserted.

This is the 20th anniversary of ACE that recognises US companies that "promote and uphold high standards as responsible members of their communities where they do business", according to the State Department.

Two other enterprises, one in the Republic of Congo and another in Singapore, were given the award for empowering women economically. An enterprise in Uganda received the sustainable operations award in the medium-to-small category.

The awards are made by the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, which is headed by Assistant Secretary of State Manisha Singh.

The State Department said that PepsiCo India saved more than 17 billion litres of water in 2017 through its community water programmes focused on conservation agricultural practices which promoted direct seeding of rice and micro-irrigation.

Under its Sustainable Water Resource Development and Management programme promoting water replenishment, PepsiCo India has replenished over five billion litres of water, positively impacting 60,000 community members, it added.