Frito-Lay , the snack division of US soft drinks group Pepsi , has bought its only serious rival in the Indian potato chip market, Uncle Chipps . The acquired brand belongs to Uncle Chipps Co. Ltd , based near Delhi. Frito Lay is also buying some machinery from the company.Neither side disclosed the price. Brands not past the hump in the product life cycle have been sold in the near past at approximately the annual sale value, which, in this case, is around US$9m. Amrit Agro, owners of Uncle Chipps. will continue manufacturing the product on contract for Pepsi at their existing facility at Silvassa, a sales tax haven 100 miles north of Bombay. Amrit Agro will continue operating in its other product categories.The snack foods business in India is huge and growing fast. In the packaged snacks business, estimated at about US$600m, packaged potato chips account for about US$44m. This market is dominated by Frito-Lay, Uncle Chipps,