With yesterday's appointment of Indian-born Indra Nooyi as chief executive, PepsiCo Inc. has positioned itself to compete for key emerging markets in Asia and the Middle East, analysts say.

Indra Nooyi, 50, president and chief financial officer, becomes CEO Oct. 1. That will make PepsiCo the third-largest U.S. company by revenue led by a woman.

Nooyi, who had been the soft drink giant's president and chief financial officer, will replace 58-year-old Steve Reinemund. Reinemund announced he was ending his five-year tenure to spend more time with his wife and four children.

Reinemund praised Nooyi, a 12-year PepsiCo veteran, as a talented role model.

"I'm very excited and at the same time very humbled," Nooyi told analysts during a conference call.

Nooyi will be the rarest of CEOs: a wife, mother, and a woman of color. Only two other women, Patricia Woertz of Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods Inc., lead larger U.S. corporations.

At PepsiCo, Nooyi played key roles in the purchase of Tropicana, the public offering of Pepsi Cola bottling group and a merger with Quaker Foods.

Ken Harris, a partner at the consulting firm Cannondale Associates in Evanston, Ill., called Nooyi a "a world-class CEO," adding that she "has that special chromosome. She has presence."

J.P. Morgan analyst John Faucher said her challenge is to continue the company's "phenomenal" results of the past few years. Over the past five years, PepsiCo's sales have increased an average of 5 percent, compared with 3 percent for rival Coca-Cola Inc.

Nooyi's background could be an asset as the company expands internationally. She is comfortable in a variety of cultures, said Carolyn Buck Luce, a partner with Ernst & Young who chairs a task force on women executives for the New York-based Center for Work-Life Policy. Nooyi's record suggests she is able to "celebrate differences, not just tolerate them," Luce said.

Asia and the Middle East represent major emerging markets for soft drink makers. Although Coke dominates the world, PepsiCo has the edge in the Middle East, Faucher said.

Since 2003, PepsiCo and Coke have wrestled with allegations in India that their soft drinks contain pesticide levels that exceed European standards. Officials at Coke and Pepsi deny the allegations. Faucher said the charges represent more of a threat to the companies' images than their bottom lines.

Faucher said that "it certainly can't hurt" to have Nooyi at the helm to demonstrate that PepsiCo is a global company.

Nooyi is known for her directness, wit and a habit of singing in the office.

Kara Helander, western regional vice president of Catalyst, a nonprofit group that promotes women in business, credited PepsiCo for doing more than most corporations to reward women and minorities. Catalyst research found that 16.4 percent of Fortune 500 corporate officers are women; at PepsiCo that number is 26.7 percent.

Shares of PepsiCo rose 62 cents yesterday, or 1 percent, to close at $63.95 on the New York Stock Exchange.