Women have come a long way from not being allowed to vote once, to taking over the reins of large corporations. They have proven time and again that they can easily manage complex work environments at work & at home.
On this woman’s day, let us celebrate and felicitate all the amazing women in business in India.
Here is our list of top women in business today (in alphabetic order).
These multifaceted personalities not only excelled at their work, but they also showcased to the world that ‘no dream is big and no dreamer too small’.
- Arundhati Bhattacharya
Arundhati Bhattacharya joined as the CEO of Salesforce India at the age of 64, ready to challenge & reinvent herself in the field of IT.
Former banker, she led India’s largest bank, SBI, through its most difficult phase. She was also responsible for SBI’s digital transformation by overseeing the launch of digital banking app YONO and tie ups with amazon for payment solutions.
Within 2 years of her joining Salesforce, the company has ranked no 7 (from earlier rank no 29) in the ‘Great Place to Work 2021 survey. The Salesforce India staff has grown to over 5000 and over 1500 more are expected to join this month.
- Debjani Ghosh
Debjani Ghosh is a well-known name in the IT industry. She is the President of the National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) since April 2018.
With a very strong technology background, Debjani believes strongly in the power of technology in improving lives and creating livelihoods.
She has made a huge contribution in developing ‘Think Digital, Think India’ strategy to support India’s digital transformation.
- Falguni Nayar
Falguni Nayar, a former investment banker, quit her job and founded Nykaa, a beauty and fashion ecommerce brand.
Almost a decade later, her company’s IPO oversubscribed over 82 times making her India’s richest self-made woman billionaire.
Falguni got the opportunity to take up entrepreneurial roles in her stint at Kotak, where she set up offices in new locations like New York and London. This helped her understand the importance of return on equity & long-term sustainability of business matter, which she tried to successfully implement at Nykaa.
“As an investment banker, I have seen companies go up and down. Only companies that create long-term sustainable value for shareholders, customers and everyone in the ecosystem survive and thrive.” – Falguni Nayar
- Kiran Mazumdar Shaw
The chairman and MD of Biocon and the recipient of Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw is a strong-willed woman who never falters from speaking her mind.
She is probably the first entrepreneurs in India who started Biocon Ltd, a biopharmaceutical company in the 1978.
She has come a long way from then to become one of wealthiest self-made woman entrepreneur in the country.
- Radhika Aggarwal
Radhika Aggarwal is an internet entrepreneur, co-founder of online marketplace, Shopclues and India’s first woman to enter the unicorn club
With vast experience in advertising, marketing in India and abroad, she founded Shopclues in 2012. She dared to take on the online giant Amazon and created a billion-dollar company with Shopclues. Her success mantra is a right mix of passion, grit, perseverance, and self-belief.
- Dr Swati Piramal
Dr. Swati Piramal, a doctor and public health graduate, is the director of world-renowned Piramal Healthcare.
She started an ambulatory healthcare centre while she was studying medicine, setting a precedence for her mammoth healthcare business.
She founded the Piramal Foundation which deployed several projects that helped over 112 million lives.
“If you know your facts, it isn’t easy (for anyone) to dismiss what you’re saying. I have found that knowledge helps overcome gender bias too.” Dr. Swati Piramal
- Vani Kola
Vani Kola, a very popular venture capitalist in India, believes in helping entrepreneurs flourish and start their own businesses.
She is the founder and CEO of Kalaari Capital, which has funded over 50 companies from ecommerce, mobile & healthcare. She moved back to India after spending 22 years in the USA to start her venture capital firm after she travelled, met people and researched the Indian investment market.
She loves motivating entrepreneurs and has delivered several motivational speeches at forums like TED talks, TIE, etc.
- Vinita Bali
Vinita Bali is best known for her stellar transformation of the biscuit company, Britannia where she was instrumental in increasing the revenue 4 times to over a billion dollars, in a span of a decade.
She is deeply focused on sustainability & nutrition. She set up Britannia Nutrition Foundation in 2009 to raise awareness and saliency of the problem, promoting public-private partnerships to tackle the malnutrition challenge.
Like said earlier, we have indeed come a long way in becoming a society that gives equal opportunities to everyone irrespective of their gender. These powerful and successful women inspire us to dream big and see those dreams come true.
It is time to celebrate their grit and determination and to wish for many more such success stories to play out in the coming years.
Happy woman’s day!
