Rainy-day Woman: Vishakha Mulye

Vishakha Mulye
41, MD & CEO, ICICI Venture Funds
(Number of times in BT's Most Powerful list: 3)

Biggest achievement in 2010: Launched a $1-billion infrastructure fund and mobilised $400 million in a new PE fund Being a powerful woman is important because: You have the ability to make a difference Tip for work-life balance: Set priorities at work and at home and work towards achieving them with strict discipline A workplace without women is like: A coin without two sides

Eighteen months ago, Vishakha Mulye was parachuted from ICICI's general insurance subsidiary to take charge of the group's venture capital arm when a mini crisis erupted after the abrupt exit of Renuka Ramnath. It was not easy for the 41-year-old, as resignations flew on to her table in the initial days at ICICI Venture.

In October last year, she raised $400 million in difficult market conditions. A year later, she was at it again, this time launching a $1 billion infrastructure fund. She has commitments of $100 million in the bag. "We will start international road shows soon," says a beaming Mulye.
-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