Where’s the fizz?
Your cover story on the appointment of Indra Nooyi—Ms
Fizz—as the CEO of PepsiCo was to the point. With sales of carbonated drinks peaking or even showing signs of falling, the American multinational is keen to drive deeper into India’s hinterland. In the long term, India—with its expanding middle class, growing incomes, and its blistering weather—is clearly the largest market for cola peddlers. By appointing Nooyi, PepsiCo is trying to show that it is a multicultural company that cares about the sensibilities of developing countries. The way the Indian media has gone ga-ga over her appointment, it’s clear that it has succeeded to some extent in this gigantic PR exercise. Also, Nooyi could be an effective shield against charges of contamination by NGOs.
Atul Mittal
Singapore
The fifth CEO of Pepsi is also the first Indian woman to head a Fortune 100 company. That is clearly some achievement. Indra Nooyi has climbed the ladder the hard way. It’s not easy to reach that high, especially in Western countries.
Lily Kapoor
New York
Infobytes
It was left to India Empire to reveal to the world that the Infosys chief and one of India’s richest men N.R. Narayana Murthy was a socialist in his younger days. This is the kind of the stuff that belongs to Ripley’s Believe It Or Not. Who would believe that NR would have campaigned for Francois Mitterrand. Which is perhaps why his transformation into “an evangelist for capitalism” should open the eyes of India’s communists who see red every time we dally with the Americans.
Rekha Mansingh
New Delhi
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N.R. Narayana Murthy’s prescription for India is: create a large number of high-quality and well-paying jobs. “If we have to create jobs, if we have to create wealth, we have to do it in the private sector,” he says. The man has created hundreds of millionaires—people who bought Infosys stock are laughing all the way to the bank. Shouldn’t we listen to people like him rather than our politicians who promise wealth and take our money?
Kamal Bhatia
Washington
Dil Maange More
You have been cutting down your Bollywood section and it’s reduced to just two pages sometimes. Where else can the lonely NRI read about his favourite actors and actresses but India Empire. The internet is a poor second option. Nothing like print. Please increase the pages in the Bollywood section because there’s so much happening.
Sanjay Mehta
London
 Class of 2006
Back to the Future in your September issue was interesting. India is set to be the world’s classroom and the way interns are footing it to our institutions, soon we’ll have another quota stir coming! But seriously, the world is waking up to India’s educational prowess and business acumen. Even a few weeks stint at an Indian company can do wonders for the non-Indian student. The level of competition Indians face from junior school onwards is awesome. Students in the West can never face that kind of stuff.
Leena Krishnan
Paris
Let’s face it. The world will soon be learning from Indian teachers. And we have headstart in that area.
D. Mehta
Mumbai
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