In the current scenario were Women are constantly pitted against Men, we decided to take a look at the top Women entrepreneurs in India. These are some of the richest and most powerful Women in the country. They have also been able to hold their ground, fight through the unfairness Women usually face and come on top of a lot of Men. P.S : This list is not in any particular order. We also know that there are many more, but decided to go with just top 9 favourites of ours.
Chanda Kochhar (born 17 November 1961) is the managing director and chief executive officer of ICICI Bank. She is widely recognised for her role in shaping retail banking in India.
Currently she is the managing director and CEO of ICICI. She has won several accolades for her innovative ideas in the banking sector and also for her impeccable leadership skills. In 2017, Kochhar was featured in Business World magazine's ‘BW's Most Influential Women’ list as an evergreen woman leader. In May of the same year, she received the Woodrow Wilson Award for Global Corporate Citizenship from the Woodrow Wilson Centre located in Washington, US. She is the first leader to receive an award in this category. In the same year, Kochhar was ranked 5th in Fortune’s list of ‘Most Powerful Women in business outside the U.S.
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (born 28 October 1955) is an Indian American business executive and the current Chairwoman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage business in the world by net revenue.
She has consistently ranked among the World's 100 Most Powerful Women. In 2014, she was ranked at #13 on the list of Forbes World's 100 most powerful women, and was ranked the 2nd most powerful woman on the Fortune list in 2015.
In February 2018, the International Cricket Council announced that Nooyi would join the ICC Board as its first independent female director in June.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (born 23 March 1953) is an Indian entrepreneur. She is the chairperson and managing director of Biocon Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India and the chairperson of Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. In 2014, she was awarded the Othmer Gold Medal, for outstanding contributions to the progress of science and chemistry. She is on the Financial Times’ top 50 women in business list. As of 2015, she was listed as the 85th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes. In 2016, she has been listed one more time in Forbes—the most powerful woman in the world at 77th position.
Ekta Kapoor (born 7 June 1975) is an Indian TV and film producer. She is the Joint Managing Director and Creative Director of Balaji Telefilms, her production company.
Ekta Kapoor has been in the industry since she was 19 and has accomplished a lot. She is one of the most well-known names in India. She also works on script writing, creative conversion and concept building. Having been chosen as ‘Asia’s Most Powerful Communicators’ by Asia Week magazine, she has helped launch the careers of many actors and actresses. Some of these actors and actresses have now entered the film industry.
In the short span of her career, this young entrepreneur of India has achieved many awards and civic honours. She was chosen to lead the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) entertainment committee.
Her futuristic thought is something which makes her a favourite among her peers. Her latest venture into Digital space through ALT app is something which emphasis on her out of the box thinking.
Indu Jain belongs to the Sahu Jain family and is the current chairperson of India's largest media group, Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd., which owns the Times of India and other large newspapers. She is widowed with two sons.
According to Forbes 2015 rankings, Indu Jain had a net worth of $3.1 billion and was ranked 57th-richest person in India and 549th-richest person in the world.
She was awarded the Padma Bhushan by the Government Of India in January 2016.
Rashmi Sinha is an Indian-American businesswoman and CEO of San Francisco-based technology company SlideShare. In 2012, Fortune named her No. 8 on its Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs list. In 2008, Rashmi was named one of the World's Top 10 Women Influencers in Web 2.0 by Fast Company. In January 2015, The Economic Times, India's leading business publication, listed her as one of 20 "most influential" global Indian women.
Apart from numerous awards in the entrepreneurial sector she was also named one of the top 10 sexiest CEOs by Playboy Magazine.
Shradha Sharma (born July 6, 1980) is the founder, CEO and chief editor of YourStory, a media technology platform for entrepreneurs. Before starting YourStory in 2008, Sharma served as an Assistant Vice President at CNBC TV18 and also a Brand Adviser at Times of India.[1][2][3] On Chai with Lakshmi she has been called "...the biggest storyteller of India's digital space.[4] She featured in a techgig story as one of "5 women Indian entrepreneurs in India you should know about."[5] The Hindu wrote about her as one who has shattered the glass ceiling.[6] Her company has been described as "India's biggest and definitive platform for start-ups and entrepreneurs-related stories, news, resources and research reports."[7]YourStory has received investments from Ratan Tata, Vani Kola, Karthee Madasamy and T V Mohandas Pai.
Vandana Luthra (born 12 July 1959) is an Indian entrepreneur and the founder of VLCC Health Care Ltd. a beauty and wellness conglomerate represented in Asia,the GCC and Africa. She is also the Chairperson of the Beauty & Wellness Sector Skill Council (B&WSSC), an initiative that provides training under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana scheme. She was honored by the Government of India in 2013 with the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award, for her contribution to the fields of trade and industry. She won the Asian Business Leaders Forum Trailblazer Award in 2012 and The Enterprise Asia Women Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2010. She has been ranked 26th in the distinguished annual Forbes Asia 50 Power Businesswomen in the APAC region (which includes Asia, Australia and New Zealand). She has also featured in the prestigious Fortune magazine’s annual listing of the ‘50 Most Powerful Women in Business in India’ for five years in a row – from 2011 to 2015.
She was also appointed the first chairperson of the Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council in 2014. This is backed by the government of India and will offer skills training for the beauty industry.
Sabina Chopra is Co-Founder of Yatra Online, Inc. and serves as its Chief Operating Officer of Corporate Hotels. Ms. Chopra has over 16 years of work experience, has thorough knowledge of all facets of the Travel BPO Industry and an extensive network within the Indian travel community. She served as an Executive Vice President of Operations at Yatra Online, Inc. Prior to Yatra, Ms. Chopra headed India based Operations of ebookers, Europe’s largest online travel company. She was responsible for setting up, transitioning and management of Customer Service, Sales, Air Ticketing, Hotel Sales, Email and Online Departments. She also served with Japan Airlines, a Canadian Airline and her BPO work experience includes heading Operations for RAC (Aviva Plc) and Hewitt Associates. She holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Delhi University.
These are some of the Women entrepreneurs in India right now. Do you think that you have what it takes to end on one of these lists someday.
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