Media rights sale: Former Pepsi chair Nooyi's presence on ICC and Amazon boards raises questions of potential conflict

Indra Nooyi, the former chairperson at PepsiCo, who is currently serving as an independent director at the International Cricket Council (ICC), also happens to be on the board of Amazon and the company's audit committee as the retail-to-content conglomerate prepares to submit a bid for media rights of cricket's global events. In February 2018, Nooyi was appointed to the ICC board as the organization's first independent female director. In February 2019, she became the newest member to Amazon's 11-member board of directors. Consequently, she was also named to the audit committee of Amazon's board.

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The International Cricket Council (ICC), by way of a tender document, has asked interested broadcasters to come forward and submit bids.

TOI has asked the ICC the following questions: 1) Under ICC rules, does Ms Nooyi's presence qualify as conflict of any sort? 2) Did the ICC, at any point, discuss this before bringing out the tender? 3) Apropos of rules, does the ICC see the presence of Ms Nooyi on both sides as a fair representation in the present circumstances? 4) Ms Nooyi is a member of the ICC's Finance & Commercial Affairs Committee too. 5) Ms Nooyi, as a board member of the ICC, was privy to the structuring of the new Future Tours Program (FTP) and the upcoming events cycle. The story will be updated as soon as there's correspondence from the ICC.While this happens, industry executives are waiting to know what the ICC has to say about Nooyi being in a position of power at cricket's governing body and the terms of the tender are known to the members of the board, alongside discussions on the commercial framework