Is Pepsi banned in India?

Pepsi has never been banned across India, and no order restricts its sale today. The company's name, PepsiCo, is attached to two real regulatory stories, and neither concerns the cola.

The historical one is pesticides. After the Centre for Science and Environment reported pesticide residues in soft drinks in 2003 and again in August 2006, Kerala banned the manufacture and sale of Coca-Cola and PepsiCo products by orders of 10 and 11 Aug 2006, and six other states barred them from schools, colleges and hospitals. PepsiCo challenged the Kerala order, and on 22 Sep 2006 the Kerala High Court quashed it, holding that the state had no power under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act to impose such a ban and had not heard the companies first. The Supreme Court, hearing a public interest petition filed in 2004, declined on 22 Oct 2013 to ban soft drinks and directed FSSAI to conduct periodic checks of carbonated drinks instead.

The current one is energy drinks. On 2 Jul 2026 FSSAI notified PepsiCo, with five other companies, for calling Sting and Adrenaline Rush 'energy drinks' and making functional claims; the next day it ordered the whole category relabelled as 'Caffeinated beverage' by 29 Sep 2026. Rajasthan then prohibited eight energy-drink brands including Sting, and Maharashtra barred Sting near schools. Those actions are recorded on the Sting page. They do not touch Pepsi, Mountain Dew, 7UP or Mirinda. On 22 Aug 2026 FSSAI named PepsiCo among more than 150 companies sent claims and labelling notices, again without naming a product.

The August 2025 boycott calls after US tariffs, and one university's campus rule, were not government orders. Pepsi is not banned, not recalled and not under any sale restriction in India as of 20 Sep 2026.