Mumbai, Nov 22 (IANS): Pepsi will be the title sponsor of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the next five years. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Wednesday granted the rights to the beverage giants for Rs.396.8 crore.

BCCI officials, including market committee chief Farooq Abdullah and IPL chairman Rajiv Shukla, met here and decided to award the rights to Pepsi over another bidder Aircel, a mobile network provider.

"Two eligible bids were received and Farooq Abdullah announced that the rights had been won by PepsiCo for five seasons starting with 2013," said BCCI in a statement.

Shukla said: "PepsiCo are one of the largest sponsors in world sport and we look forward to working with them over the next seasons. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank DLF for its confidence in the IPL to become the league's first title sponsor in 2008."

Deepika Warrier, executive director marketing of Pepsico, said: "We have been associated with cricket for the last 20 years. The IPL is a tremendous product. It is a brand which rivals any other sporting brand across the world."

Pepsi's bid is almost double the Rs.200 crore paid by DLF for the first five seasons of IPL, the BCCI statement said.