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India's antitrust regulator, the CCI, has cleared the combination of Sapphire Foods India and Devyani International, which would bring KFC and Pizza Hut franchise operations under one structure. Devyani confirmed the clearance in an exchange filing and said it is awaiting the detailed order. Other statutory steps remain before the merger takes effect.
India's Competition Commission has cleared the merger of Sapphire Foods India into Devyani International. Devyani runs KFC and Pizza Hut franchises in India and is the exclusive Costa Coffee franchisee there. Sapphire runs over 700 outlets under KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands across India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The tie-up could improve coordination and support expansion.
The Competition Commission of India has cleared five deals across food services, renewable energy, power, finance and telecoms. In food services, it approved Sapphire Foods India's merger into Devyani International, creating a restaurant business with over 3,000 stores and annual turnover of about Rs 8,000 crore. It also cleared Aditya Birla Renewables' purchase of Solenergi Power from Shell.
Rebel Foods has partnered with Naturals Ice Cream through its Rebel Launcher brand development initiative, with Naturals already operating in 77 Rebel cloud kitchens nationwide. The tie-up gives the ice cream brand access to kitchen infrastructure, technology and operations. It has expanded to Bengaluru, Gujarat, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi NCR. In 2026 it also entered Chennai, Hyderabad and Punjab.
KFC is replacing Pepsi with Coca-Cola beverages after roughly four decades, with its U.S. restaurants switching across the system by spring 2027. The company announced the move on Thursday as part of a menu overhaul and turnaround effort. Parent Yum Brands is also pushing harder into beverage sales across its chains.
