Indra K Nooyi, who was today appointed CEO of aerated drinks giant PepsiCo, is the latest to join the swelling tribe of Indians that is surviving cut-throat competition to reach the summit of the corporate world.
Nooyi enjoys the distinction of becoming the first Indian woman to hold a top position at a multi-billion dollar MNC of the stature of PepsiCo, but the likes of Arun Sarin, Ajay Banga, MS Banga, Rajat Gupta and Rono J Dutta too have been there and done that.
While Sarin is CEO of UK-based global telecom giant Vodafone, Ajay Banga is Chairman and CEO of Citigroup Global Consumer Group and MS Banga, Unilever’s (Asia, Africa) President.
Both Gupta and Dutta have the distinction of serving as former MD and President of McKinsey and United Airlines, respectively.
Then there are titans like L N Mittal, who has engineered the merger of Mittal Steel and Arcelor to create the world’s largest steel entity. But then, he is in a different league altogether.
Nooyi’s rise to the top slot at Pepsi comes as the latest example of the ‘‘Great Indian Takeover’’ in the corporate world.
The other Indians who have made their mark on the global corporate arena include Wipro’s former vice chairman Vivek Paul, who is now a partner at global equity investment major Texas Pacific Group and Vyomesh Joshi the executive vice president at computer giant Hewlett-Packard.
At the world’s largest computer chipmaker Intel Corp, Anand Chandrasekher, another person of Indian origin, was recently named as the head of a new division that includes low-power processors and ultramobile PCs.