Management Students from MDI to become Indra Nooyi's advisors

Company Brief

New Delhi, 22 February, 2008

PepsiCo, the world's largest selling Food and Beverage Company, today announced the results of its B-school challenge 'Taste the Success - Become Indra's Advisors'. "MIDAS" - the team from MDI, Gurgaon were the proud winners of the contest. Under the challenge, PepsiCo India had invited business strategies, for unlocking the latent demand for beverages in India, from the leading management schools. The first runner up of the contest was from FMS, New Delhi and

the second runners up was from MDI, Gurgaon.

The winning team members, Supreet Kaur, Anand Trivedi & Anand Mohan Sharma will now be flown to PepsiCo Headquarters in New York where they will present and discuss their case solution with Indra Nooyi, Chairman & CEO, PepsiCo Inc in the month of April. If the winning business strategy is found feasible, the team may get an opportunity to engage as advisors on an ongoing basis with PepsiCo business to operationalize their ideas.

The first runners up team, "Rebels United" from FMS, New Delhi, received a cash award of INR 1,00,000/-, and the second runners up team, "Concoction" from MDI, Gurgaon received a cash award of INR 50,000/-. The top 6 teams from MDI, FMS & IIM Indore will also get an opportunity to appear for a pre placement interview without going through the initial screening process.

Presenting the awards to the winners, Mr. Sanjeev Chadha, CEO PepsiCo India said, "Every case study that we received from the management students was outstanding in itself. It was inspiring and heartening to engage with some of the brilliant brains of India. The case studies that we received were extremely insightful & innovative. It gives us immense pleasure to present the awards to the most deserving team from MDI. We are looking forward to working together with the students to implement the winning business strategy at PepsiCo." He further added, "Going by the overwhelming response we look forward to more such initiatives, further engaging and leveraging the talent pool in the Indian business schools".

Sharing her experience, Supreet Kaur, a student of MDI & a member of the wining team said, "It feels great to be the winner of the PepsiCo contest. It was an excellent exposure for all the management students like us. The contest was really challenging for us as most of the top B-schools of India were participating. We are looking forward to meet Ms. Nooyi and are confident that our strategy will be implemented in PepsiCo."

The initial selection was done by Dr. Amit Kapoor, Honorary Chairman Institute for Competitiveness India, Chief Economist and former Head for Datamonitor's Economic Research Practice and Ms. Geetu Verma, Executive Director, Innovation and Business Development, PepsiCo India. They selected the 6 best business strategies submitted by the students. The second round was judged by an esteemed jury of 4 members comprising of Mr. Sanjeev Chadha, CEO, PepsiCo India, Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Founder, Indian Angel Network & Founder Member, TIE, Mr. J.K. Mitra, Dean, Faculty of Management Studies, and Mr. Vinod Rao, CFO, PepsiCo India.

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Saurabh Srivastava, Founder and Past Chairman, NASSCOM, Founder Member Indian Angel Network said, "It was an exciting competition with some of India's brilliant young brains giving their best shots to win the challenge. It will be really motivating for the winning team if their business strategy gets implemented at PepsiCo India."

The management institutes participated in the challenge were: 5 Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Indore), Management Development Institute (MDI), Faculty of Management Studies (FMS), Xavier Labour Relations Institute (XLRI), Symbiosis Institute of Business Management (SIBM), Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS).

For further information please conatct:

PepsiCo India

Mrinall Kanti Dey

Mob: +91 9818449509

e-mail: Mrinall.dey@intl.pepsico.com