Nooyi tops FT's 50 top biz women list

PepsiCo’s India-born Chief Executive Officer Indra Nooyi has topped the Financial Times’ ranking of the Top 50 Women in World Business for the second year running, while five Indians have made to the coveted list this year.

While Nooyi held her position for the second time in a row, two Indian woman executives stormed their way into the list, expanding the number of Indians in the list to five (not including Nooyi who is an US citizen) from three last year.

The two fresh Indian faces on the list are Chanda Kochhar (ranked 11), managing director and chief executive of ICICI Bank, and Shikha Sharma (48), managing director and chief executive of Axis Bank. Vinita Bali (21), chief executive of Britannia Industries, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (39), chairman and managing director of Biocon, Shobhana Bhartia (45), chairman of HT Media, are the three executives who appeared in the list for the second time in a row.

Despite Kochhar’s first-time in the list, she topped among the Indians to appear in it.

A seven-member jury, which did not have an Indian on it, finalised the list. The Financial Times (FT) said the top 50 was selected by an expert jury, whose choice was based on information on the executives’ performance and durability. Much of the information was supplied by Egon Zehnder International, an executive recruitment group.

A range of factors was used to assess the candidates: biographical data; size, scope and complexity of the company (including turnover and number of employees, number of sectors and countries of operation); and competitive landscape.

In the top 50 list, Nooyi was followed by Andrea Jung of Avon Products, Güler Sabanci of Sabanci Group, and Irene Rosenfeld of Kraft Foods.
 

RANK HOLDERS

1   Indra Nooyi, chief executive, PepsiCo

11 Chanda Kochhar, managing director and chief executive, ICICI Bank

21 Vinita Bali, chief executive, Britannia Industries

39 Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director, Biocon

45 Shobhana Bhartia, chairman, HT Media

48 Shikha Sharma, managing director and chief executive, Axis Bank

Lionel Barber, editor of FT, said: “We are delighted to see so many of the world’s most successful business women gather at the 2010 FT Women at the Top conference. The FT champions the increased presence of women on the boards of companies, and continues to provide news and analysis about the achievements of high-performing women in the global corporate world.”