She was born as Indra Krishnamurthy on 28 October 1955, in Madras (now Chennai), Tamil Nadu, India, into a conservative middle-class family. Her father was a bank official. She is an Indian-American business executive and former chairperson and chief executive officer (CEO) of PepsiCo.
She was educated at Holy Angels Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School. She studied physics, chemistry and mathematics from Madras Christian College from where she graduated in 1974. She possessed a rebellious streak as a young girl, and was known to be “wild”. She played guitar in a band and was also a member of an all-girls' cricket team—activities girls in her social strata rarely participated in. A brilliant student, she earned a seat in one of India’s premier institutions, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, from where she completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Management (MBA), in 1976.
Indra worked many jobs with many companies before landing at PepsiCo Indra Nooyi joined PepsiCo in 1994 as senior vice president of corporate strategy and development. Over the next couple of years, she worked closely with the new CEO, Roger Enrico, and worked on shaping the company’s future expansion and growth strategies. PepsiCo at that time owned KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell restaurant chains. Nooyi played a pivotal part in getting these restaurants divested in 1997. The divesture resulted in the creation of Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc., now renamed as Yum! Brands, Inc., which is today one of the world's largest fast food restaurant companies. In recognition of her impressive work with the company, Nooyi was promoted to chief financial officer in 2000 and the president in 2001. In 2006, PepsiCo CEO Steve Reinemund retired and Nooyi became the fifth CEO in PepsiCo's 44-year history. She is listed under the top 100 most influential women in the world.