PepsiCo India has partnered with Akshaya Patra, a non-governmental organization that is providing freshly prepared nutritious lunch to more than 1.2 million underprivileged school children every day during the school year, in 18 locations, across eight states in India. For children belonging to the weaker economic sections of society, a full meal, even once a day, is a strong incentive to come to school and stay in school. This program enables hunger-free education and has lead to a significant rise in enrollment and attendance.

In the first stage, PepsiCo India is funding equipment and vehicles to set up a kitchen near Kapashera, Delhi, with the capacity to feed 75,000 children through the mid-day meal program. The PepsiCo India-Akshaya Patra partnership addresses the issues of education and nutrition as part of PepsiCo's Performance with Purpose.

At an Akshaya Patra event earlier this year, Mrs. Nooyi stated “The message of Akshaya Patra, which PepsiCo, believes in deeply is clear.  We can meet the world’s food needs as long as we work together to create change.”  Additionally, Mrs. Nooyi stated “A child’s hunger is entirely preventable, the simple and powerful mission of Akshaya Patra is not just filling empty bellies, but changing the trajectory of countless lives, and this gives us all a renewed sense of what is possible and working together we can unleash the possibility of a better future for every child.”

“We applaud PepsiCo for addressing the challenges facing the global society and promoting, amongst other goals, corporate social responsibility as an effective approach to ensure the basic needs of a child's nourishment,” said Madhu Sridhar, President of Akshaya Patra USA. “Corporate giving is a powerful demonstration of a company’s values. We commend the leadership for fostering a culture of giving and service and we look forward to a long lasting relationship with PepsiCo.”

About Akshaya Patra

The Akshaya Patra Foundation is one of the world’s largest NGO-run midday meal programs. A public-private partnership, Akshaya Patra combines good management, innovative technology and smart engineering to deliver school lunch at a fraction of the cost of similar programs in other parts of the world. It costs Akshaya Patra $15 to feed a child for an entire year. This meal gives these children an incentive to come to school, stay in school and provides them with the necessary nutrients they need to develop their cognitive abilities to focus on learning. Economic necessities keep these children out of school.

Started modestly in Bangalore feeding 1,500 children in five schools, the foundation has grown to become the largest, and certainly most innovative, school lunch program in the world.  Akshaya Patra is a great example of what can be accomplished when the public sector, private sector and the civic society collaborate-- a cost effective, scalable solution with high quality service delivery. Akshaya Patra’s next milestone is to serve 5 million children daily by 2020.

President Obama in his congratulatory note to Akshaya Patra wrote, “Your use of efficient and innovative business practices to scale up in just a few years from feeding 1,500 school children daily to almost a million is a powerful demonstration of what's possible when people work together.”

For more information please contact Madhu Sridhar at 781-438-3090 x 1, email Madhu@akshayapatrausa.org.

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