SBI chief on Fortune India's power list

Arundhati Bhattacharya, Chairman of the country’s largest bank SBI, remains the most powerful woman in the Indian business sector, according to Fortune India. ICICI Bank’s Chanda Kochhar and Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank follow Bhattacharya at the second and third places, respectively.

Hindistan Petroleum Corporation Limited Chairperson and Managing Director (MD), Nishi Vasudeva, has bagged the fourth position, while AZB & Partners Co-Founder Zia Mody and Aruna Jayanthi Chief Executive of Capgemini India shared the fifth rank.

All the top-five rank holders retained their positions from the previous year, barring Jayanthi who was at seventh position last year. Moreover, there are only two debutantes in the Fortune India list of 50 most-powerful businesswomen for 2015.

Meena Ganesh, MD and chief executive officer (CEO) at Portea and Jyoti Deshpande, Group MD and CEO at Eros International have made their debuts at 43rd and 50th positions, respectively.

On SBI chief, the magazine said, “SBI's financials tell the story of her successful tenure, but it is Bhattacharya’s drive that has strengthened her position at the top.”

“In her short career as first woman heading one of the oldest commercial banks in the region, Bhattacharya was instrumental in pushing several reforms, including revision of terms for infrastructure loan,” Fortune India noted.

These powerful women represent various sectors such as banking, finance, energy, healthcare, media, fashion and entertainment. These women are in the age group of 40 to 71.

The other women who figure in the top 10 are Preetha Reddy MD Apollo Hospital Enterprise (seventh), Mallika Srinivasan CEO of TAFE (eighth), Yasmin Hilton Chairperson Shell India (ninth), and Chitra Rama Krishna MD and CEO at NSE (tenth).

Among others who made to the list are Kiran Mazumdar Shaw Chairperson and MD at Biocon, Renu Sud Karnad MD HDFC, Shobhana Bhartia Chairperson HT Media, Anita Dongre Founder of House of Anita Dongre, Ekta Kapoor Joint MD Balaji Telefilms and Ritu Kumar Founder of Ritu Kumar Designs.