Fizzy Logic

She walked around the largish room like a veteran politician, shaking hands with everyone, even all the venue organisers, before getting started. And when this newspaper asked for her views on the raging debate on food standards in the country, she disarmingly quipped, 8220;I feel like running out from this room.8221;

Run away she will not8212;for her first challenge is too close to home.

Practically timed with Nooyi8217;s elevation to the top slot, the issue of pesticides in soft-drinks has exploded once again. Pepsi is in the thick of things: Defending its cola in the face of a publicity nightmare, moving the Kerala High Court against its ban on production and distribution in the state, and waiting for the inevitable safety and quality standards, by law, for carbonated soft drinks.

Pepsi8212;or arch-rival Coca-Cola8212;are hardly strangers to attacks from civil society that see their produce as an unhealthy, sugary brew dispensed by evil multinationals. Most sodas have already been banned from schools in the

US, and the cola companies have been proactively taking the issue forward.

But the challenge in India acquires a greater importance, and not just because Nooyi spent the first 23 years of her life here. With revenues of over 700 million, India is PepsiCo8217;s fifth-largest market outside the US. When the new standards are introduced8212;if is no longer a possibility8212;Pepsi will have to increase its technology investments into a soft-drinks market that is just not making money.

Despite huge investments, both Pepsi and Coke8217;s beverages operations are still in the red. Though Nooyi says India is a 8220;rising star8221;, the fact remains that annual per capita consumption of carbonated beverages remains very low. In fact, it is the snacks business that gives Pepsi cash profits in India.

Nooyi knows this well, as globally the company has been diversifying to broadbase its dependence on soft-drinks. Apart from the acquisition of juice-major Tropicana, PepsiCo has picked up Quaker Oats8217; stable of food products. Nooyi has been a key driver behind these buyouts, and it helps that the market has a favourable impression of her abilities to take the company forward.

Her strong links with India8212;which she has never shied away from8212;will also help in tackling a crisis that could spiral out of control. Coming from a typical Tam-Brahm setting, Nooyi was clearly a go-getter and drew inspiration from her mother and sister. Strong family values are an anchor for this workaholic, who has two children with management consultant husband Raj. Friends and classmates remember her as outgoing and willing to push the button, even fronting an all-women rock band in conservative Chennai of the 1970s.

Nooyi8217;s high standing within the overseas NRI community and her work for the government will help matters. This graduate of Madras Christian College and IIM-Calcutta has been a key part of the core team8212;including Victor Menezes, Rajat Gupta, Vinod Khosla and Parag Saxena8212;that has worked on a report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on how India can hike annual FDI inflows to 10 billion.

Globally, Pepsi is in fine fettle and making healthy profits. It couldn8217;t be a better platform for Nooyi, who will join a 10-member club of women running global corporations. And there8217;s a lesson here for all of us. At a time when CEOs of soft-drink companies have to be diplomatic wordsmiths, Nooyi got to head a US-based corporation soon after a fracas over her analogy of America and the middle finger. Clearly, the better woman won the job.