Chanda Kochhar

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Chanda Kochhar

Kochhar at the World Economic Forum's India Economic Summit 2009

Born

November 17, 1961 (age 49) Jodhpur, India

Occupation

CEO and MD, ICICI Bank

Children

A son and a daughter

Chanda Kochhar (born November 17, 1961) is currently the Managing Director (MD) of ICICI Bank and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). ICICI Bank is India's largest private bank and overall second largest bank in the country.[1][2] She also heads the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.

Contents

[hide]

1 Early life 2 Career o 2.1 19841993 o 2.2 19932006 o 2.3 2006present 3 Recognition 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Early life

Chanda Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She then moved to Mumbai, where she joined Jai Hind College for a Bachelor of Arts degree. After graduating in 1982 she then pursued Cost Accountancy ICWAI, Later, she acquired the Masters Degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai. She received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies as well as the J. N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy for highest marks in the same year.[3] Chanda Kochhar currently resides in Mumbai, and is married to Deepak Kochhar, a wind energy entrepreneur and her Business schoolmate. She has two children, a son and a daughter.[3][4]

[edit] Career
[edit] 19841993
In 1984, Chanda Kochhar joined "The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd" or ICICI Ltd.[5] as a Management trainee after her Masters. In her early years in ICICI, she handled Project Appraisal and Monitoring and projects in various industries like Petrochemicals, Textile, Paper and Cement.[3]

[edit] 19932006
In 1993, Kochhar was sent to ICICI bank as part of a core team to set the bank. She was promoted to Assistant General Manager in 1994 and then to Deputy General Manager in 1996. In 1996, Kochhar headed the newly formed the Infrastructure Industry Group of ICICI, which aimed "to create dedicated industry expertise in the areas of Power, Telecom and Transportation". In 1998, she was promoted as the General Manager and headed ICICI's Major Client Group, which handled relationships with ICICI's top 200 clients. In 1999, she also handled the Strategy and E-commerce divisions of ICICI. Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI bank started the Retail business in July 2000 and emerged the largest retail financer in India, in the next five years. In April 2001, she took over as Executive Director, heading the in ICICI Bank.[3]

[edit] 2006present
In April 2006, Chanda Kochhar was appointed as Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank. She managed the Corporate and Retail banking business of ICICI Bank. From October 2006 to October 2007, she handled the International and Corporate businesses of ICICI Bank. From October 2007 to April 2009, Kochhar was also the bank's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Joint Managing Director (JMD) and the official spokesperson. She also headed the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.[3][6] She is also a director of different ICICI group companies. She is the chairperson of ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company and ICICI Investment Management Company Limited. Kochhar is the Vice-Chairperson of ICICI Bank UK PLC and ICICI Bank Canada. She is a director in ICICI International Limited and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd. and part of the Governing Council in 1964. The ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth-Member.[7] Kochhar is CEO and MD of ICICI Bank from May 2009 for a period of five years. She succeeds K. V. Kamath, who was CEO of the bank since 1996.[2][8]

[edit] Recognition
Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI Bank won the Best Retail Bank in India award in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005 and Excellence in Retail Banking Award in 2002; both awards were given by The Asian Banker. Kochhar personally was awarded "Retail Banker of the Year 2004 (Asia-Pacific region)" by the Asian Banker, "Business Woman of the Year 2005" by The Economic Times and "Rising Star Award" for Global Awards 2006 by Retail Banker International. Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune's list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" since 2005.[3] She climbed up the list debuting with the 47th position in 2005, moving up 10 spots to 37 in 2006 and then to 33 in 2007.[9][10] In the 2008 list, Kochhar features at the 25th spot.[11] In 2009, she debuted at number 20 in the Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women list". She is the second Indian in the list behind the ruling Indian National Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi at number 13.[4] She is honoured with Padma Bhushan Award, the third highest civilian honour by the Government of India for the year 2010 for her services to banking sector.[12] Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune's list of "Most Powerful Women in Business" since 2005. In 2009, she debuted at number 20 in the Forbes "World's 100 Most Powerful Women list".[13]

[edit] References
1. 2. 3. 4. ^ Reuters ^ a b Business Standard ^ a b c d e f ICICI Bank official site ^ a b Naazneen Karmali (August 19, 2009). "The 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/11/power-women-09_Chanda-Kochhar_37UK.html. Retrieved 2009-08-20. 5. ^ ICICI was emerged into its daughter project ICICI Bank in 2002

6. ^ BusinessWeek 7. ^ http://people.forbes.com/profile/chanda-d-kochar/42493 Forbes 8. ^ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/icici-bank-board-clears-kochhar-as-new-m.../400725/ Indian Express 9. ^ "37. Chanda Kochhar". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/popups/2006/fortune/mostpowerfulwomen_intl/37.html. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 10. ^ "33.Chanda Kochhar". CNN. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/fortune/0709/gallery.women_intl.fortune/33.html. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 11. ^ "International Power 50". CNN. September 29, 2008. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2008/fortune/0809/gallery.women_intl.fortune/25.html. Retrieved April 28, 2010. 12. ^ "Padma Vibhushan for Montek Ahluwalia, Azim Premji". The Economic Times. 26 Jan 2011. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/padma-vibhushan-for-montekahluwalia-azim-premji/articleshow/7364274.cms. Retrieved 27 January 2011. 13. ^ "The 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes.com. August 19, 2009. http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/11/power-women-09_The-100-Most-PowerfulWomen_Rank.html.

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Profile

Mrs. Chanda Kochhar is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank Limited. She began her career with ICICI as a Management Trainee in 1984 and has thereon successfully risen through the ranks by handling multidimensional assignments and heading all the major functions in the Bank at various points in time.

In 1993 when ICICI decided to enter commercial banking, she was deputed to ICICI Bank as a part of the core team to set up the bank. When ICICI set up the Infrastructure Industry Group in 1996 to create dedicated industry expertise in the areas of Power, Telecom and Transportation sector, she was handpicked and made incharge of the Infrastructure Industry Group.

In July 2000, she was chosen to head the Retail Finance division of ICICI and has been instrumental in scaling up the business. In April 2001, she was promoted as an Executive Director, heading the retail business in the Bank. In April 2006, she was appointed as the Deputy Managing Director with responsibility for both Corporate and Retail banking business of ICICI Bank and from October 2006 to October 2007 she handled the International and Corporate businesses of ICICI. In October 2007, she was appointed as the Joint Managing Director & CFO. She was heading the Corporate Centre, was the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and was also the official spokesperson for ICICI Bank.

Awards

and

Recognition

2011

Conferred with the "Padma Bhushan", one of India's highest civilian honour Received the Global Leadership Award for her contribution to the US - India commercial relationship Named as one of the two best Indian CEOs in an annual poll conducted by Finance Asia magazine Named the "Transformational Business Leader of the Year", by All India Management Association (AIMA) Ranked 17th among Fortune's 25 Most Powerful CEOs in Asia Ranked as the 5th most recognized and respected company leader by American research firm, Penn Schoen Berland (PSB). The survey was conducted among 600 respondents from US, EU, Asia-Pacific and India in March

2010

Ranked 41st in the "50 Power List 2011", by India Today Named in the list of 25 most powerful professional women of the country, by India Today

Ranked 11th by Financial Times in the "Top 50 Women in World Business" Conferred with the "Outstanding Woman Business Leader of the Year" award by CNBC TV18, 2010 Conferred with the "Banker of the Year Award" by Financial Express Ranked 92nd in the Forbes list of "Most Powerful Women" in the world Ranked 10th in the Fortune's List of "Most Powerful Women in Business" Conferred with the "Transformational Business Leader of the Year", by All India Management Association (AIMA)

Featured in the list of "30 Most Powerful Women Leaders", in Business Today for 8 consecutive years from 2002 to 2010

2009

2008

Awarded with the Indian Business Women Leadership Award at NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards Ranked in the top 20 of the World's 100 Most Powerful Women list compiled by Forbes

2007

Ranked 25th in Fortune International Power 50 list

2006

Won the Teachers Achievement Award in the business category Ranked 33rd in the Fortune's List of 50 Most Powerful Women in Global Business Featured in the list of Business Today's 25 most powerful women leaders

2005

Featured on Fortune's 50 Most Powerful Women in International Business Selected as "Rising Star Award", for Global Awards by Retail Banker International

2004

Awarded "Business Woman of the Year", by The Economic Times of India

Selected as "Retail Banker of the Year", (Asia-Pacific region) by The Asian Banker from amongst prominent retail bankers in the Asia Pacific region

Professional

Affiliations

Apart from being on the Board of ICICI Bank and various group companies, she is a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry, US-India CEO Forum, Executive Board of the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Member of the Board of Governors of Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER),

Member of the Managing Committee of the Indian Banks Association and also a member of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Society.

ICICI Bank Ltd. (ICICIBC) Chief Executive Officer Chanda Kochhar says it doesnt seem so long ago that she was worrying that she wouldnt be able to handle her job at whats now Indias largest nongovernment lender while managing her household and caring for her infant son. Id taken my maternity leave and come back, says Kochhar, 49, munching on a salad in the top-floor executive dining room of the banks 11-story Mumbai headquarters. I found it a little difficult. During that time of doubt that almost derailed her career in 1996, Kochhar was fortunate to be working at a place that encourages women to not abandon their first steps up the corporate ladder, Bloomberg Markets magazine reports in its August issue. ICICI Bank, which lends to corporations and individuals and offers insurance, investment banking and other financial services, has produced seven of Indias 14 top female financial professionals. ICICI has served as a bit of a CEO factory, says Gunjan Bagla, managing director of Amritt Inc., which advises Western and Indian companies on working together. Many women who rose to top positions inside ICICI and its affiliate companies have since moved on to other entities in India. Looking for Talent Kochhar thanks former CEO Kundapur Vaman Kamath for making what turned into a career-changing decision for her. He let her take a half-year hiatus from her job as head of infrastructure financing after she was overwhelmed by work and family life. The change from Indias typical three-month maternity leave made the difference. Thirteen years later, in May 2009, Kochhar succeeded Kamath as CEO.

Kamath, 63, who became the banks chairman, was building on a tradition of ensuring that women get opportunities to prove themselves. Narayanan Vaghul, who was managing director and chairman of the banks predecessor, ICICI Ltd., from 1985 to 1996, says Indias management-minded females confronted two kinds of employers in the 1970s: those who believed women could perform as well as men and those who couldnt see them in roles beyond secretary or stenographer. Vaghul and his predecessor, Suresh Nadkarni, were believers. It was never a question of gender, says Vaghul, who remained ICICI Bank chairman until early 2009. We were really looking for talent. Executive Director K. Ramkumar, the banks head of human resources, says the company challenged norms without having formal diversity policies. Fairness and Transparency If your board or chairman wants to implement equality, you dont have to create committees, he says. That kind of thinking has pushed ICICI Bank into the vanguard of companies where women can succeed at the top, saysDeepak Gupta, managing director and country head for India at search firm Korn/Ferry International in New Delhi. Its a women-friendly kind of culture catering to fairness and transparency, he says of ICICI Bank. Indias foreign banks, such as Citigroup Inc. (C), also have done well in mentoring women, Gupta says. The difference at those companies: When women reach upper management, theyre offered opportunities outside India. ICICI being an Indian bank, the women that get to senior levels tend to excel within Indian institutions without having to go anywhere, he says. Kochhar Tested

Kochhar put her skills to the test after she returned from her break. From 2001 to 2006, when she headed retail banking, ICICI Bank expanded lending. Loans to retail customers surged more than 30-fold. Then, as Indias economy grew at the slowest annual pace in six years beginning in April 2008, ICICI Bank became the nations only lender to see a run on deposits. Hundreds of people pulled money out of automated teller machines because ICICIs U.K. unit held 57 million euros ($82 million) in senior bonds sold by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., which filed for bankruptcy that September. Kochhar and Kamath helped defuse the situation by appearing on TV and saying the bank had enough capital. The years of lending caught up with the bank in 2008. The nonperforming assets ratio, a measure of bad loans, soared more than 30 percent for the 12 months through March 2009. Profit plunged 35 percent in the quarter ended that March. With the benefit of hindsight, yes, we could have adjusted our growth rate, Kochhar says. Shares, Profit Soar She took over as CEO in May 2009 and has slashed loans to retail borrowers by 21 percent over two years. ICICI Banks profit has almost doubled, increasing to a record 14.5 billion rupees ($325 million) in the quarter ended on March 31 from 7.43 billion rupees in the March 31, 2009, quarter. ICICI Bank shares, which are listed in India and the U.S., soared 108 percent to 1,018.9 rupees on June 22 under her watch compared with a 51 percent rise in the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index during that period. The targets management set under Chanda Kochhar were fairly ambitious, and theyve pretty much accomplished all of them, says Brian Hunsaker, an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. in Hong Kong. With ICICI as their incubator, women alumnae are bringing their experience to Indias top banking jobs. Kalpana Morparia joined ICICI in 1975 and left in 2008 to become CEO of

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM)s India unit. She says ICICI managers never stereotyped women. None of them ever made us feel special, and I mean it as a very positive statement, she says. We Flourished Morparia, 62, who has a law degree from Bombay University, says Kamath pushed women out of their comfort zones, in her case making her leave the legal department for the banks treasury. Kamath is scheduled to become chairman of Bangalore-based Infosys Technologies Ltd. on Aug. 21. As we got on with the job, we flourished, she says. Thats a departure from most of India. Women in the worlds largest democracy rise to just 9 percent of jobs at the director level or higher -- behind all countries but the United Arab Emirates and Japan, accounting firm Grant Thornton International Ltd. says. Worldwide, women managers average 20 percent of executive jobs, according to the 2011 report. A situation at State Bank of India (SBIN), the nations biggest lender by assets, is an example of the hurdles women can face. In 2009, the government-controlled bank barred pregnant women from being hired during a recruitment drive that drew 11,000 applicants, according to the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, which represents industrial and service workers. Only Female CEO The CITU said in an August 2009 letter, which it sent to Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, that women who successfully passed a written test and interview had to provide a gynecological history. State Bank spokesman Milind Arjunwadkar declined to comment. It was a different story at ICICI Bank that year: Kochhar attended the International Monetary Conference in Kyoto, Japan. She was the only female CEO among the 76 delegates.

Some Indian women who pursued banking elsewhere say they were pigeonholed before they even got started. Manisha Girotra says that when she joined Barclays de Zoete Wedd, the investment-banking unit of Barclays Bank Plc, in 1994, her bosses debated whether to spend equal money on training female and male analysts. The assumption was that women would marry and leave, she says. Extra Bit When she moved to London from Mumbai with the firm, she says managers doubted whether she could handle the 18-hour days that investment banking demanded. They offered her a position in communications with fewer hours. She says she slept in the office many times during a four-month period to prove them wrong, keeping a change of clothes and a toothbrush with her. I would just not go home, says Girotra, 42, now CEO ofUBS AG (UBSN)s India operations. I used to go under the table, sleep and then come back up. Kaku Nakhate, CEO of Bank of America Corp. (BAC)s Indian unit, says women can still struggle to meld work and personal lives, making mentoring and support at home crucial to their success. Women put in that extra bit, Nakhate, 45, says.Because women are taking precious time away from their family, they are a lot more focused on getting the most out of every minute. Work Speaks for You Kochhar says her gender-related setbacks originated outside the bank. Factories that she appraised in her early years didnt have bathrooms for women, and officials questioned her authority. It was not a natural thing for factory owners at the time to see some girl in her 20s, Kochhar says, dressed in a black-and-silver sari that sets off her diamond-studded earrings.Finally, your work speaks for you. So what if a girl came to inspect the factory, as long she was knowledgeable and asked the right questions and behaved in the right manner?

Inside ICICI Bank, two top women executives quit the month before Kochhar was scheduled to take over. Shikha Sharma, who ran the life insurance arm for eight years, and Renuka Ramnath, head of the venture fund, resigned within days of each other in April 2009. Sharma is now CEO at Axis Bank Ltd. (AXSB), Indias fourth-largest lender by market value. Ramnath has her own private-equity firm, Multiples Alternate Asset Management. Sharma and Ramnath declined to comment. Unusual Name The company with the unusual moniker got its start in 1955 as Industrial Credit and Investment Corp. of India, later shortened to ICICI. It worked with Indias government and theWorld Bank to fund development. In the 1990s, ICICI branched into financial services, creating ICICI Bank in 1994. ICICI Ltd. merged into the bank in 2002. Early female recruits say the company has treated women as equals for as long as they can remember. When Lalita Gupte, 62, now chairwoman of the private-equity business, began job hunting in 1971, every employer asked whether shed move with her husband, who was in the Indian navy and therefore likely to be uprooted. ICICI never raised the subject. Instead, Nadkarni pushed her to succeed. You had to be excellent, she says. Id just had a kid; I was back after three months, and he wanted to send me off for a week to a project site. I said, Thats hard; I cant do it. He said, If you dont adjust now, you never will. It ultimately turned out to be a three-day trip, but it was testing times. Nadkarni intervened a few years later when Gupte considered resigning after the birth of her second child. He went to her home and told her husband -- using a dose of humor -- not to let her quit or shed drive him up the wall. Women Are Secure Word seemed to spread that here is an organization that is friendly to women, where women are secure, Vaghul says.In relation to other companies, we attracted more women.

ICICI trusted its new hires. They believed that you can take a young person and give him or her a lot of responsibility and let them run with it,says Vedika Bhandarkar, 43, vice chairman and head of investment banking at Credit Suisse Group AG (CSGN) in India, who worked at ICICI for nine years starting in 1989. We would go meet CEOs and CFOs when we were all young. As more women joined, they shared tips on travel and work hours, Gupte says. Ive had instances when women colleagues were questioned about why they were coming home so late, she says. Weve helped these colleagues talk it through with their partners. Young children often caused the strife, and the bank would sometimes provide an extended leave, she says. Greater Loyalty When Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao opened India to outside investment in 1991, a shortage of non-clerical workers, salespeople and bankers helped more women get noticed. Some of ICICIs men left because the company waited until 1996 to raise salaries, Vaghul says. Women were more likely to stay because they saw opportunities as men moved on. They showed greater levels of loyalty, he says. Indias working women enjoyed an important perk: affordable domestic help. Maids today make as little as 7,000 rupees, or about $155, a month in Mumbai. Nanny and Maid From the time youre a management trainee you can afford to have a full-time nanny and maid, so you dont need to have this constant tussle of Is my child taken care of or not?says Madhabi Puri-Buch, who joined ICICI in 1989 and until April headed investment banking arm ICICI Securities Ltd.

I never needed to say, Now someone needs to go drop and pick up my son from tennis and from tae kwon do and from math tutorials, says Puri-Buch, 45, whos on a three-year sabbatical to be with her husband in Singapore -- another instance in which ICICI Bank has been flexible. Falguni Nayar, who heads investment banking at Mumbais Kotak Mahindra Capital Co., says she has never experienced a glass ceiling -- even as a mother of twins. Each woman must decide if she wants the responsibilities of handling a home and career, Nayar, 47, says. Kochhar grew up in a less propitious environment for women in the state of Rajasthan. It has the nations lowest female literacy rate at 52.7 percent this year, 13 percentage points less than Indias average for women and 28 points below the states average for men. Kochhars father, who was a professor at an engineering college, died when she was 13. Her mother was a housewife. The family moved to Mumbai, and Kochhar entered Jai Hind College. Very Focused Kochhar joined ICICI in 1984 after earning her bachelors degree in economics at Jai Hind and then a Master of Business Administration from Mumbai-based Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. Anita Shanbhag, a classmate who now teaches accounting at Jamnalal Bajaj, recalls Kochhars work ethic. If we got time between classes, we would head for the canteen, Shanbhag says. She would instead go to the library. She was very focused. Kochhar made an early impression at ICICI by standing up for Reliance Industries Ltd. (RIL), which today produces goods ranging from textiles to gasoline as Indias largest company by market value.

In 1989, Reliances polyester plant in the western state of Maharashtra was ravaged in a flood. Newspapers were filled with speculation about how badly the company was hit, Vaghul says. Though Kochhar was relatively junior, Vaghul made her explain to ICICIs board why the bank should continue lending. Calming Fears Kochhar told directors that her job was to back promising projects and the people behind them, even if they werent creating new assets at the time. Directors approved the funding, Vaghul says, and Reliance got the complex running again in about 20 days. After that, Reliance loved to deal with her, he says. Kochhar, a badminton and Bollywood enthusiast, says her status as a mother once even calmed concerns about the banks health. In 2008, just before she became CEO, Kochhar was making TV appearances to discuss Lehman-related losses. One weekend when she traveled to Chennai for her sons squash tournament, women came up to ask whether everything was all right at ICICI Bank, she says. Yes, of course, she responded. If they werent, I wouldnt be here. She says the women were relieved. We now feel comfortable because we are hearing you in person, as a mother, she says they told her. Sensible Plans With the overlending and Lehman scares behind the bank, Kochhar is expanding. Last year, she wanted to buy Bank of Rajasthan Ltd., even after Indias central bank had fined the smaller lender 2.5 million rupees for accounting irregularities and other charges. Prabodh Agrawal, then an analyst at IIFL Institutional Equities based in Singapore, called the 30.3 billion rupee all-stock deal too expensive.

Kochhar said the purchase would extend ICICIs branch network in northern India. After the acquisition, ICICI Banks profit beat estimates and its loans climbed for the first time in two years in the quarter that ended on Sept. 30, 2010. ICICI is well-positioned and has sensible plans, says Adrian Lim, a fund manager at Aberdeen Asset Management in Singapore, which had a 2.5 percent stake in the bank as of April 29. Top 20? Lim says Kochhar raised ICICI Banks capital adequacy ratio, a measure of financial strength, to 19.5 percent as of March 31, higher than its domestic peers. That provides a cushion for any slowdown. More importantly, it has a competent, professional management team, he says. Kochhar says she can boost ICICI Bank into the ranks of the worlds 20 top banks in five years, as measured by market value. At 1.25 trillion rupees in early June, it isnt in the top 50. Kochhars success is turning heads at her alma mater. On a May afternoon at Jamnalal Bajaj, students are poring over notes as they prepare for an exam. Ashwini Mistry, who will graduate this year with a masters in management studies, says Kochhar is inspiring a new generation of female leaders. Mistry is 24, an age by which 86 percent of women in India have married at least once, according to the 2006 National Family Health Survey. She has her heart set on a plum banking job, with marriage in the future. I never thought the banking industry was male dominated because I could see Chanda Kochhar lead such a big bank,Mistry says in the sunlit classroom. Chanda is my inspiration because I want to join banking.