Four Indians in Forbes 100 Most Powerful Women list

In Awards and Honours
June 9, 2016

Four Indian women led by Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of the county’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI), have been ranked in the latest Forbes list of 100 most powerful women in the world. While Bhattacharya has been ranked 25th, others are Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank (40th), Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw of Biocon (77th), and Shobhana Bhartia of HT Media, which publishes the Hindustan Times (93rd).

The list represents seven categories or power bases: Billionaires, business, finance, media, politics, philanthropists and NGOs, and technology, the magazine said in a statement. Also on the list is the US-based Indian-origin Indra Nooyi, Chief Executive of PepsiCo.

Did You Know?

Arundhati Bhattacharya is not only an achiever as the first woman Chairperson to lead the Bank, but is also the youngest person to reach this position. Few people know that Bhilai-born Arundhati’s background does not have anything to do with banking or finance; she graduated from Jadavpur University as an English Honours student. She converted her first job into her passion, which swiftly led her up the corporate ladder. On the way, she became an icon for every banker in the country.
Bangalore-born Mazumdar Shaw started her professional career as a trainee brewer in Carlton & United Beverages, before joining Biocon Biochemicals Limited of Ireland as a trainee manager. She commenced her entrepreneurial journey from a rented garage in Bangalore, from where she started the Indian arm of the company.
Chanda Kochhar has led a remarkable transformation at India’s largest private sector bank, which experienced major setbacks after the 2008 financial crisis.Mobile banking is one of her pet projects and in a bid to retain female staff, she has launched “iWork@home”, which allows employees to work from home for a year.
The daughter of renowned industrialist KK Birla and granddaughter of GD Birla, Shobhana Bhartia inherited a newspaper that was started with the intention of helping with the freedom struggle in pre-independence India. She spent time in each department of the publication to gain an appreciation of the different cogs of the business, before taking on the top job.