Reams of newsprint have documented the rise and rise of Indra Nooyi to the very top of corporate America and deservedly so. Indra Nooyi stormed into one of the most coveted corporate boardrooms in the USA.

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Under her watch, between 2006 to 2018, net revenue at PepsiCo jumped 80 percent to USD 64 billion. The company returned more than USD 79 billion in cash to shareholders and its market cap rose by USD 57 billion. Her story is unusual and compelling and is now being recounted in her own words.

In her memoir, "My Life in Full", Nooyi not just gives an honest account of the awe-inspiring milestones that she achieved, but also lays bare the aching loneliness and battles of a young woman trying to find her place in the world.

Also Read: Indra Nooyi's walk down memory lane: 'Encouraged to dream and supported which was unusual at that time'

It recounts an immigrant's quest for identity, and the challenges of being able to dream big while also being a mother and a caregiver. Nooyi's passion shines through every page as she takes us back to her family home in Chennai, to her days of being part of a rock band and even an opening batswoman for the first women's cricket team in Chennai to flying out to Yale in 1978 and starting her corporate career.

Nooyi tries to tell it like it is. There are lessons for corporations that wish to make a change and for women and men who seek to live their dreams.

Also Read: Indra Nooyi attributes her success as PepsiCo CEO to this person

In an exclusive interview with CNBC-TV18's Shereen Bhan, Indra Nooyi, Former Chairman & CEO of PepsiCo said, she came to the US because it was a place of hope, dreams, innovation, entrepreneurship and cultural movements. She believes that her journey and assent to the top of an iconic company could have happened only in the United States.

"I came to the United States because it was a place of hope, dreams, innovation, entrepreneurship and cultural movements. I came to the US because I was absolutely enthralled and enamoured with this country and once I settled here and became a citizen, I wanted to make sure that I was an upright citizen, I was a contributor to this country that welcomed me. My journey and my assent to the top of my iconic company, I honestly believe could have happened only in the US. It took me about a decade to get completely comfortable in the US but even now I maintain that my journey would have been possible only in the United States."

Also Read: It's time for companies, communities and governments to support working mothers: Indra Nooyi

Nooyi said India has to find a way to keep its best and brightest in the country.

"Most of the criticism I have heard about the Indian education system is the unevenness. The top schools in India are among the best in the world but the education curve doesn't look balanced. What needs to happen in the Indian education system is lifting those schools that are not in the top 10 or 15 percent and create great educational opportunities for everybody as opposed to a select few. People who go to the top schools go through a self-selection process because they are the best grade getters, they have all the opportunities in life, they do phenomenally well in IIT or whatever entrance exams and the country selects the best and the brightest but then because there are not enough opportunities for them in India, they come to the United States and they do extraordinarily well here. So it is the brain drain from India. So India has to find a way to keep its best and brightest."

Also Read: Indra Nooyi says India must figure out where it wants FDI and where to be self-reliant

Talking about her initially journey, she said, "I grew up in a conservative South Indian family but I grew up in a progressive conservative family. It was a family where the men believed that the women should be educated and should not be held back because of their gender. My mother felt the same way too but my father, and my grandfather particularly leaned into that and said, I want our granddaughters and daughters to soar. So we were given all the educational opportunities. We were also allowed to experiment and do other things but within a frame. We were given a very tight set of guardrails and rules and regulations and as long as we operated within that, we could do anything we wanted -- play cricket, climb trees, fall down, be in a rock band but it had to be under the supervision of the parents, all the rehearsals had to happen at home," she said.

Also Read: Indra Nooyi unplugged: From gender gap issues to handling work-life balance

Watch video for entire discussion.

(Edited by : Aditi Gautam)

First Published:Sept 27, 2021 10:57 PM IST