Business
Six Indians in Forbes 50 Asian power businesswomen list
New York, Feb 26
Six Indians, including State
Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharyya and Biocon founder Kiran
Mazumdar Shaw, figure in the Forbes's 2015 list of Asia's 50 Power
Businesswomen showcasing a year of accomplishments by the region's
female entrepreneurs and executives.
Punctuated by the Midas touch of China's Alibaba, the list also includes two rapidly growing economies.
To
make the list, candidates have to be active in the upper echelons of
the business world in Asia, wield significant power and have access to
robust financial resources, according to Forbes.
Apart from
Bhattacharya and Shaw, other Indians in the list are: Akhila Srinivasan,
managing director of Shriram Life Insurance/Shriram Capital; Chanda
Kochhar, managing director and CEO of ICICI Bank; Shika Sharma, managing
director and CEO of Axis Bank; and Usha Sangwan, managing director of
Life Insurance Corporation of India.
According to Forbes,
Bhattacharya, 58, referred to as the first lady of Indian banking,
chairs State Bank of India, "a behemoth with 225 million customers and
assets of $300 billion".
"Bhattacharya offers employees at SBI the option of a 2-year sabbatical to take care of children and parents."
As
for Shaw, 61, it said "India’s biotech queen built Biocon from a garage
startup into India’s largest publicly traded biopharma firm, with $480
million in sales, mostly in low-cost drugs for diseases such as diabetes
and cancerâ€.
It also mentioned that Shaw sits on the board of
IT giant Infosys and chairs the board of governors of the Indian
Institute of Management, Bangalore.
On Srinivasan, Forbes said
she “catapulted Shriram Life Insurance into one of the top five private
players in its industry in India in terms of profitabilityâ€.
“It
went on a hiring spree last year, increasing the number of employees to
9,000 from 5,500. Total premiums collected have surged almost 17-fold
in seven years to $695 million,†it stated.
Describing Kochhar,
53, as India’s second-most-powerful banker (after Arundhati
Bhattacharya), Forbes said she has been boss of ICICI, the country’s
biggest lender in the private sector, with assets of $100 billion, for
six years.
“She has overseen a retail expansion into the rural
heartland; more than 10 percent of ICICI’s 3,850 branches are in
previously unbanked areas. Kochhar is now aiming at capturing younger
customers with Pockets, a mobile and online service,†the magazine
noted.
As for Axis Bank head Shikha Sharma, 56, it said she has
been credited with giving the bank a retail focus, digitising
transactions and expanding the network.
"Under her command the
bank's total deposits have grown to $46 billion as of December 31. Net
profit crossed the $1 billion-mark for the first time in the year ended
last March," her profile read.
Usha Sangwan, Forbes said, made
history two years ago when she became the first woman to occupy the post
of managing director of LIC.
"She joined LIC in 1981 as a direct-recruit officer and worked her way up," it said about the 56-year-old achiever.
In
this year's list, China's Alibaba made history by becoming the first
company to have to have two of its decision-makers making the grade:
Maggie Wu, the online giant's chief financial officer, and Lucy Peng,
Alibaba's co-founder.
For the first time, women from emerging economies Mongolia and Myanmar made it to the list.
While
Garamjav Tseden is the founder and chairman of Mongolian mining company
Monpolymet, Myanmar's Win Win Tint "took the family grocery store and
created a retail giant that spans supermarkets, convenience stores,
pharmacies, book stores and more".
The list also includes women achievers from Taiwan, Singapore, Indonesia and Australia.