Indira Nooyi is the CEO of PepsiCo

‘Only in America’ used to be the saying, this is rapidly being replaced with ‘only in India,’ Where else would you be able to find the worlds leading CEO’s on one side of the fence and US visa scams on the other? It really is a country of stark contrast.

Simultaneously on the same day it has been reported that the city of Chandigarh and the area of Punjab are being investigated for high levels of suspected visa irregularities, this while in the US, Forbes have published their list of the movers and shakers in the US business world moving to the US to head up large American conglomerates.

The ability of the country to produce hard-working ‘outside of the box thinkers’ is unparalleled. When Indira Nooyi became the first Indian, also first Indian woman, to become CEO of the 25billion dollar company PepsiCo she was forward-thinking enough to for see a downturn in the popularity of the carbonated drink market and diversified the company rapidly with the acquisition of Tropicana and the Quaker brand. Nooyi was recently named as the 3^rd most powerful woman in the world on Forbes top 100 list in 2009. Her status as a global strategist has been cemented since taking the role in 2007, recently announcing plans to partnership with Gatorade to enter into the sports drinks market.

This ingenuity is mirrored by her fellow countrymen and women, who although some not necessarily given the opportunities afforded to most still persist in efforts to further themselves and their well-being. Although India has risen sharply within certain sectors for pay and opportunities, most notably within the IT industry, a large proportion of the population are still paid poorly and provided with limited chances to improve on this. Most in this situation see a life with a US visa as just this, a chance to achieve more.

What is clear is that the country has an ability to produce in it’s citizens a want to reach as higher heights as is possible, through hard work, and in the case of the nationals attempting to gain a US visa fraudulently by sacrificing their moral compass, albeit temporarily.