Back in the high life: Chanda Kochhar

Chanda Kochhar
48, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank
(Number of times in BT's Most Powerful list: 7)

Biggest achievement in 2010: Putting the largest private sector bank back on the growth path Being a powerful woman is important because: It is a recognition not for the self but for the team and organisation. It also becomes an inspiration for so many women in the country. Tip for work-life balance: Start with the belief that it can be done and you will be able to do it A workplace without women is: Incomplete

A red-eye flight followed by an early morning meeting is not an unusual routine for Chanda Kochhar - even if that flight is a 16-hour one that leaves Mumbai around midnight and lands in New York the next morning.

A quick check-in and a shower later, she is off for a 9.30 a.m. meeting. When she flies back, she is not always homeward-bound. "There is invariably a packed schedule of meetings awaiting me once I land in Mumbai," says Kochhar, Managing Director & CEO, ICICI Bank.

For Kochhar, god lies in the details. So she is not averse to calling up a branch manager to discuss his targets. And she takes customer feedback very seriously, and makes it a point to read every e-mail that comes in.

"Such communication gives me a direct feel of the ground-level reality," says Kochhar. The reality in the marketplace is encouraging. As Kochhar, who is targeting 15-20 per cent growth in the current year, points out: "The good times have once again begun to roll."
-Anand Adhikari

The 30 Most Powerful Women
1. Schauna Chauhan 2. Zarin Daruwala 3. Lynn de Souza 4. Tanya Dubash 5. Shyamala Gopinath 6. Vinita Gupta 7. Kaku Nakhate 8. Vedika Bhandarkar 9. Manisha Girotra 10. Lalita Gupte 11. Usha Narayanan 12. Akhila Srinivasan 13. Leena Nair 14. Vinita Bali 15. Chanda Kochhar	16. Roopa Kudva 17. Naina Lal Kidwai 18. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw 19. Zarina Mehta 20. Zia Mody 21. Kalpana Morparia 22. Vishakha Mulye 23. Swati Piramal 24. Meher Pudumjee 25. Madhabi Puri Buch 26. Chitra Ramkrishna 27. Preetha Reddy 28. Shikha Sharma 29. Mallika Srinivasan 30. Sangeeta Talwar