New York: The list of Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen by Forbes Magazine has included six Indian women CEOs and Managing Directors, including State Bank of India head Arundhati Bhattacharya and ICICI CEO Chanda Kochchar, “knocking down” walls in the traditional male bastions.
This showcases a year of accomplishments by the region’s female entrepreneurs and executives, punctuated by the midas touch of China’s Alibaba and newcomers from two rapidly growing economies where women are starting to find a toehold in business, the magazine said.
Included in the list are women CEOs and founders who are active in the upper echelons of the business world in Asia, wield significant power and have access to robust financial resources.
Apart from Bhattacharya and Kochchar, the Indian executives on the list are Akhila Srinivasan, MD/non-executive director of Shriram Life Insurance/Shriram Capital, Biocon Founder, Chairman and MD Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Axis Bank CEO and MD Shikha Sharma and Life Insurance Corporation of India MD Usha Sangwan, 56 (India).
Forbes said in less than a decade Srinivasan has catapulted Shriram Life Insurance into one of the top five private players in its industry in India in terms of profitability.
“Srinivasan has been with the $13.3 billion assets under management Shriram Group – parent of Shriram Life and India’s largest financial conglomerate – for 29 years,” it said, adding that she is the only woman on the board of Shriram Capital, holding company for Shriram Group.
Forbes said Bhattacharya, 58, is referred to as the “first lady of Indian banking” and as chair of the Indian behemoth with 225 million customers and assets of $300 billion, the “SBI lifer” has had her hands full addressing bad loans and shoring up the bank’s capital.
Forbes noted that Bhattacharya offers employees at SBI the option of a 2-year sabbatical to take care of children and parents.
Kochhar, 53, is India’s second-most-powerful banker after Bhattacharya, Forbes said.
Kochhar has been boss of ICICI, the country’s biggest lender in the private sector, with assets of $100 billion, for 6 years and is now aiming at capturing younger customers with Pockets, a mobile and online service.