She interacted with the media following the 33rd anniversary summit of the US-India Business Council, of which she took charge as the new chairman. She is also the first woman to head this organisation which now boasts of more than 280 members, including a majority of Fortune 500 companies. Nooyi said, "India is one of our most important markets. We have discussions going on a bilateral investment trade agreement."
Lauding the efforts of Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry, Nooyi said, "If you work with Kamal Nath for example, he actually gets things done in the Ministry and things do happen, and we've made enormous commitment to India as have most of the other consumer product companies we work with."
She said that consequently, "Doing business in India has been relatively easy. I mean, it's all relative, because it's relative to other developing and emerging markets, who all have their issues."
Nooyi said that "India has been growing at 20-30 percent a year for all of us. So, we actually like doing business in India and all the other CEOs I talk to, feel exactly the same way."
Ron Somers, the president of USIBC, who participated with Nooyi in the briefing, pointed out that, "In 2004, the USIBC had 60 member companies, now after four years, we have 280 member companies. We've seen two-way trade increase from $25 to $41 billion just in the last two-and-a-half years."
"The growth is extraordinary and if you were to take a poll all of the CEOs - both Indians and Americans in the USIBC membership - they would tell you that it's never been better. That it's improving, that the issues are fewer and fewer and the opportunity is enormous," he said.
Asked what her greatest concern about the Indian economy is in terms of what could torpedo that country's sustained growth and as a result knock the huge market it offers to companies like PepsiCo and other American heavyweights doing business in India, Nooyi said, "The one issue that everybody worries about today is the price of oil."
"India to fuel
its growth needs oil and the government provides subsidies so that the economy can keep humming," she pointed out. "But if the price of oil goes up too much, how much can the government put out in terms of subsidies. And, then if you remove the subsidies, what happens to the economy?
Such a situation, Nooyi predicted, "could cause a slowdown if the price of oil went up too much. So, I think it's not just an issue for India. I think worldwide one of the biggest issues we are all confronting is where is the price of oil going to go and how do you cope with not just escalating but just exploding energy costs."
Meanwhile, asked what a failure vis-à-vis consummating the US-India civilian nuclear deal could do to the burgeoning relationship, Nooyi refused to acknowledge that it had failed. "I wouldn't call it a failure as yet, because it is inching along slowly as he put it," she said referring to a comment made by Nath at the conference that the agreement was inching along and that the government of India hadn't given up on it, despite the opposition of the Left and Communist members of the coalition.
She also said, "I have, perhaps, a slightly different twist on it. I wouldn't call it an India-US civil nuclear agreement. I'll talk of it as an India National Security Initiative."
"This is needed for India - for its own energy sufficiency, for its own security," Nooyi argued. "And, I think this was something that was proposed in good faith by the US government and I think it is critical for India and my hope - I am still holding out hope - is that between now and the end of the terms of the US presidency or the Indian government, whichever turns over first something will actually get negotiated. That's my hope."
Asked if she would serve in a future US Administration position in a senior position as predicted by the likes of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and if so, which particular portfolio she would like, Nooyi, named by Fortune Magazine as the 'Most Powerful Woman in 2007', shot back with a smile: "If the chairmanship and CEO of PepsiCo has a cabinet position, I'd be delighted to carry that."
"That's the only job I'm interested in and that's the only job I intend to keep for many years to come," she added.
