US considers Indra Nooyi as next World Bank chief, says report

Washington, Jan 16: Former CEO of PepsiCo, global beverage giant, Indra Nooyi, is being considered by the US administration as the next president of the World Bank, leading American daily New York Times has reported.

Born in Tamil Nadu in 1955, Nooyi stepped down from the PepsiCo post last August after leading the firm for 12 years.

According to NYT, US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, an entrepreneur and a member of the administrative team, is playing a role in selecting a nominee to head the prestigious financial institute.

Citing people familiar with the process, the NYT report said the decision-making process for the WB president's post is "fluid and in its initial stages and early front-runners and candidates often fall off the radar, or withdraw from consideration, before the president (Donald Trump) makes his ultimate pick".

It was, however, not clear whether Nooyi would accept the nomination, PTI reported.

Ivanka has expressed her admiration for Nooyi earlier as well. In August last year, she had taken to Twitter to call Nooyi her "mentor+inspiration", like to many others and said she was deeply grateful for the friendship. Ivanka said this after Nooyi stepped down from the post of PepsiCo's CEO.

If Nooyi indeed bags the plum post, she will succeed current president Jim Yong Kim who said earlier this month that he would step down in February to join a private infrastructure investment company. Kim was to serve in the post for three more years.