PepsiCo Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi, who has been speculated to be among the possible candidates to succeed Ratan Tata as chairman of the Tata Group, has ruled herself out of the race, saying she “loves” her present job.
“Ratan is an unbelievable person. He has got an incredible stable of people who can succeed him. I am running one of the greatest companies in the world, PepsiCo. I love my job,” Nooyi said when asked about the speculation linking her to the top job at the $71-billion Indian salt-to-software conglomerate.
The Chennai-born chief of the world’s leading company in convenient snacks, foods and beverages, with revenues of more than $60 billion and over 285,000 employees, however, was all praise for the Tata Group. “Tata is an unbelievable company. It is a nation-building enterprise, a phenomenal enterprise, the face of India,” Nooyi said.
While Ratan Tata’s 52-year-old half brother, Noel Tata, has been speculated to be the front-runner, Nooyi and another global business leader, Carlos Ghosn, chairman and chief executive officer of Renault-Nissan Alliance, have been mentioned as suitable candidates.