India's top female bankers, SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya, ICICI head Chanda Kochhar and Axis Bank CEO Shikha Sharma, are among 50 women listed by Fortune. While Bhattacharya came in second on Fortune's '50 Most Powerful Women International', Kochhar came in fifth and Sharma claimed the 19th slot.
The list was topped by Banco Santander's BotA-n. "Bhattacharya's profile has risen during her three year tenure atop India's largest bank," Fortune said. Bhattacharya continued her high-profile battle with the bank's bad loans. "Though her term leading the bank is set to expire in October, most expect the government will extend her time so she can see the efforts through," the company said.
Chanda Kochhar is regarded even by rival bankers as a "visionary", according to Fortune. "After seven years at the helm of India's largest private sector lender, with consolidated assets of USD 139 billion, she has overhauled the nation's consumer retail business. Though bad loans took a toll on income growth this year, Ms Kochhar has engaged turnaround experts to help ditch those distressed assets." About Sharma, it said, "First quarter profit this year was hurt by a spike in bad loans, but Ms Sharma deserves accolades for publicising a watch list she created to monitor four per cent of the bank's potentially-troubled assets."
