SBI Chairperson Named India’s Powerful Business Woman

Fortune Magazine named Arundhati Bhattacharya, the chairperson of State Bank of India (SBI) as the most powerful woman in business in India pushing ICICI Bank's Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank.

In the Fortune India list of 50 most powerful businesswomen, there are as many as eight new entrants.Two first timers - Ms Bhattacharya and Nishi Vasudeva, the chairperson and managing director of HPCL (4th) have made a cut into the top 10.

Ms Bhattacharya, chairperson of India's largest lender, made to number one spot "due to her relentless fight against bad loans and since she took over a year or so ago, she has improved assets quality, cut costs and recapitalised SBI (State Bank of India)" Fortune India said.

"That's no mean feat when you consider that SBI has 190 foreign offices, a market cap of Rs. 1.9 lakh crore and 2,22,033 employees," the magazine noted.

These powerful women represent various sectors such as banking, finance, healthcare, media, fashion and entertainment.

Other new entrants include Shahnaz Husain, founder of Shahnaz Group of Companies, Zarin Daruwala, president-wholesale banking at ICICI Bank, Archana Hingorani, CEO and executive director at IL&FS Investment Managers, Vani Kola, managing director at Kalaari Capital, and Valerie Wagoner, managing director at Zipdial.

The other women who figure in the top 10 include Zia Mody, co-founder of AZB Partners, Mallika Srinivasan, CEO of TAFE, Aruna Jayanthi, CEO of Capgemini India, Preetha Reddy, managing director at Apollo Hospital Enterprise, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson and managing director at Biocon.