News India Times

www.newsindiatimes.com – that’s all you need to know Papa John’s Puts India On Priority List With Vegetarian Fare, Executives Say P apa John’s International is placing India among its priority markets globally and tailoring its offerings to local tastes with its maiden majority-vegetarian menu, executives said, in a move the U.S. pizza chain expects will fuel long-term growth. The world’s third-largest pizza delivery company, which exited India in 2017 citing underperformance, has relaunched with four stores in Bengaluru, it said on Friday, and plans to open 650 stores nationwide over the next decade. The pizza chain’s return comes at a time when execu- tives and analysts tip discretionary spending in India to recover on the back the recent tax cuts, after several quar- ters of sluggish demand across the fast-food sector. “India is one of our priority markets,” CFO Ravi Thana- wala told Reuters. India, alongside other focus regions such as China and the United Arab Emirates, receives “the greatest amount of management focus,” Thanawala said. The company, which has more than 6,000 outlets in around 50 countries and territories, is putting in most of its time and focus in such priority markets for technology strategy development and consumer research to drive long-term growth. Indian investment firm Pulsar Capital and UAE-based PJP Investments Group are Papa John’s joint master fran- chisees in the country. India is set to become PJP’s largest market within six years, surpassing its combined store count in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, the investment firm’s CEO Tapan Vaidya said. The franchisee currently operates about 150 Papa John’s restaurants in these Middle Eastern countries. To attract footfalls, Papa John’s is offering more veg- etarian pizzas than non-vegetarian ones for the first time in its history, PJP’s Vaidya said. India has the world’s highest number of vegetarians. Papa John’s, which plans to enter the southern city Hyderabad in 2027, is pricing its entry-level margherita pizza at 149 rupees ($1.68), Vaidya said. In comparison, market leader Domino’s Pizza’s margherita pizza starts at 109 rupees. -Reuters PHOTO:REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration An Indian flag and Papa Johns logo appear in this illustration taken August 25, 2025. News India Times (October 11, 2025 - October 17, 2025) October 17, 2025 18 India Modi Opens Adani Airport, Metro Line As $4 Billion Mumbai Facelift Kicks In I ndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated two landmark transit projects worth nearly $4 billion on Wednesday, marking another mile- stone in his administration’s effort to modernize infrastructure in the world’s most populous country. Modi took a tour of the new Navi Mum- bai International Airport with billionaire Gautam Adani and his son Jeet. The Adani Group has developed the project. Modi also rang in the completion of the final phase of the newest metro line connect- ing southern and central Mumbai via the city’s first underground track. These new “connectivity projects will strengthen the city’s position as a global hub of growth and opportunity,” Modi said while inaugurating Mumbai’s new airport and metro lines. “India is investing in infrastructure aimed at improving ease of living in India.” The seaside metropolis, which is also India’s financial capital, is overhauling its decades-old infrastructure, riding a broader wave as billions of dollars gush into India’s logistics projects. Federal and state government spending is on the rise and assets in so-called infrastructure investment trusts, which allow individuals to invest in projects, are expected to surge in the coming years. India still faces a large funding gap and a rapidly growing urban population that risks overwhelming already strained public systems. Consequently, the admin- istration is taking steps, such as rolling out a government program last month aimed at attracting long-term investors like pen- sions and life insurance companies. The airport, built to resemble a lotus - India’s national flower lotus - will span over 1,160 hectares in Navi Mumbai, a satellite city east of Mumbai. It’s designed to handle 90 million passengers per year over time and will be India’s first airport to be connected by a water taxi. The new terminal is expected to ease aviation bottlenecks at the city’s sole exist- ing airport that’s already hemmed in with slum clusters on one side. It would also boost real estate development of the sur- rounding area in Navi Mumbai. The new airport “will ease the capacity constraints in the Mumbai region” and strengthen connectivity, said Sheldon Hee, regional vice president Asia-Pacific at International Air Transport Association. IATA will collaborate with the Navi Mum- bai airport team “to deliver the required capacity efficiently, foster innovation and create a seamless experience for passen- gers and stakeholders,” he said. Commercial flight operations are expected to begin in December, Adani Air- port Holdings Ltd.’s Chief Executive Arun Bansal said at a press briefing on Monday. Initially, it will have the capacity to handle 20 million passengers every year, he said, adding that the group will invest another 300 billion rupees in the second phase of the airport development. The Adani Group is developing the greenfield airport through a special pur- pose vehicle, Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt, in which the conglomerate’s airport unit holds a majority stake of 74%. The state-owned City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd. holds the remaining 26%. Modi also opened the final phase of Metro-3, the Aqua Line, the city’s first underground metro line. The line will connect the city’s southern peninsula to the northern suburbs and offer access to the existing airport, alleviating severe overcrowding on the rail system and con- gested streets. It will connect to the Bandra Kurla Complex, the city’s major business dis- trict, where construction has started on the terminus for India’s first high-speed rail. The bullet train will connect Mumbai to Ahmedabad, the largest city in Modi’s home state of Gujarat. The metro system is being financed by groups including The Asian Development Bank, the Japan International Coopera- tive Agency, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank. -Bloomberg By P R Sanjai and Mihir Mishra PHOTO:Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. By Praveen Paramasivam