India a key market for portfolio transformation: Indra Nooyi

NEW DELHI: PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi has called out to India as a key market that’s transformed its portfolio from predominantly sugary drinks and salty snacks, to include low-sugar beverages and more-fibre snacks.

“I’m specially proud of the work we’ve done in India to transform our portfolio to include more nutritious products, working with and supporting thousands of Indian farmers, and providing an inclusive workplace in which our associates in India can bring their whole selves to work everyday. That will not change,” she said in an email to ET, hours after the US firm announced that she is stepping down.

The India-born Nooyi, 62, will leave the job in October this year and will remain chairman until early 2019. The maker of Pepsi cola, Tropicana juice and Lay’s chips has named Ramon Laguarta, a company veteran of over two decades, as successor to Nooyi. She was the first female chief executive in the company’s history.

She will step down after 12 years of leading the food and beverage company. “After more than a decade at the helm and nearly a quarter of a century with PepsiCo, now feels like the right time to pass the baton, as we are well-positioned for continued success. Over my time as CEO, we’ve focused not only on the next quarter, but the next year and the next decade, rewarding shareholders while understanding that our success and the success of the wider world are inextricably bound together,” she said in a statement.