Asserting that the current economic situation does not call for over-regulation, Pepsico chief Indra Nooyi on Thursday said it is time to challenge the corporations to examine their morality and ethics.

"...this is not the time to over-regulate one part of the industry that you understand, just to put something in place to answer the crisis that is going on today," Nooyi said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

The chief of the beverages and snacks major noted that there should not be a repeat of "what happened after 1930s (Great Depression) when over-regulation stopped everything..." Instead, Nooyi pointed out, it is time to challenge corporations to "examine their personal morality and ethics..."

"I think we have got to challenge companies to think about performing with a sense of purpose not just performing for short-term share holding interests," she noted.

Nooyi said the whole notion of enterprise and capitalism comes into question when there is a failure of personal morality and ethics.

"...when personal morality and ethics fall apart then this whole notion of enterprise is questioned and capitalism comes into question...

"It's not the laws that you have in the books but how you comply with those laws, that's important," she added.