India has gone from a ‘must-invest’ to a ‘must-deal-with’ country: PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi
ET SPECIAL:
NEW DELHI: India has gone from a 'must-invest' to a 'must-deal-with' country, PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi
said, expressing the ambivalence that many overseas businesses feel
about a country that's been tarnished by allegations of rampant
political corruption, retrospective changes in law, policy reforms
getting stuck and, to top it all off, an economic slump.
Uncertainties in tax policy, poor infrastructure and lack of clarity are among problems facing investors in India.
"'Must invest' means it's a destination and GDP is growing. 'Must deal with' means there are infrastructure issues, the taxation policy is not clear or transparent. So people are saying, 'Do Ihave to deal with India?'" India-born Nooyi, who's held the top job at PepsiCo for seven years, is still betting on the country as one of the company's strongest markets. PepsiCo has announced an investment of $5.5 billion in the country through to 2020.
Nooyi, who met Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday, said, "There have been issues in India. No questions about it... Our hope is that the system will right itself."
She refused to be drawn into a discussion about next year's national election when asked whether a leader of the country should have secular credentials. "I am not into the political aspect of India, but I just think India has been a secular democracy forever and all that we want as investors in India is stability in the country," she said. "How that stability comes, the Indian voters will decide."
When asked about reports by Goldman Sachs and others citing perceptions of Narendra Modi leading BJP to power, she said the company takes all such commentary coming out of India seriously but corroborates it with PepsiCo employees on the ground.
She also said PepsiCo has always been heard by government officials, whether it was the prime minister, finance minister or Planning Commission, on issues that the beverage and snacks maker wanted to bring to their attention. Nooyi also said that India needs to upgrade its infrastructure by a significant measure to attract investment, besides becoming a more unified market. "You have to fix the whole system," she said. "Foreign investment can create the push, but the country has to create the pull, and if the country gives the pull, you can get lot of investments."
Uncertainties in tax policy, poor infrastructure and lack of clarity are among problems facing investors in India.
"'Must invest' means it's a destination and GDP is growing. 'Must deal with' means there are infrastructure issues, the taxation policy is not clear or transparent. So people are saying, 'Do Ihave to deal with India?'" India-born Nooyi, who's held the top job at PepsiCo for seven years, is still betting on the country as one of the company's strongest markets. PepsiCo has announced an investment of $5.5 billion in the country through to 2020.
Nooyi, who met Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday, said, "There have been issues in India. No questions about it... Our hope is that the system will right itself."
She refused to be drawn into a discussion about next year's national election when asked whether a leader of the country should have secular credentials. "I am not into the political aspect of India, but I just think India has been a secular democracy forever and all that we want as investors in India is stability in the country," she said. "How that stability comes, the Indian voters will decide."
When asked about reports by Goldman Sachs and others citing perceptions of Narendra Modi leading BJP to power, she said the company takes all such commentary coming out of India seriously but corroborates it with PepsiCo employees on the ground.
She also said PepsiCo has always been heard by government officials, whether it was the prime minister, finance minister or Planning Commission, on issues that the beverage and snacks maker wanted to bring to their attention. Nooyi also said that India needs to upgrade its infrastructure by a significant measure to attract investment, besides becoming a more unified market. "You have to fix the whole system," she said. "Foreign investment can create the push, but the country has to create the pull, and if the country gives the pull, you can get lot of investments."
naresh kr pg 1....
No comments:
Post a Comment