Arundhati Bhattacharya, chairperson, State Bank of India, and Chanda Kochhar, MD, ICICI Bank, are among the five women from India featured in Forbes’ 100 most powerful women in the world. German Chancellor Angela Merkel tops the list. Bhattacharya is ranked 36th on list and Kochhar 43rd. Biocon founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is ranked 92nd. Forbes said as the head of India’s largest lender with about $380 billion in assets, Bhattacharya holds ‘one of the most powerful positions’ on the Asian subcontinent. “Not only is she the first woman appointed to the position, but she is also the youngest at age 57,” it said. Bhattacharya has served almost every function within the bank, including foreign exchange, treasury, retail operations, human resources and investment banking. Kochhar, 52, oversees almost $125 billion in assets as MD and CEO of ICICI Bank. “She has been credited with leading a remarkable transformation at the firm, which experienced major setbacks after the 2008 financial crisis,” Forbes said.
