The change agent
In her 28 years at ICICI Group, Shikha Sharma has earned the reputation of the woman with the Midas touch, making a success of every division she has started.
In her 28 years at ICICI Group, Shikha Sharma has earned the reputation of the woman with the Midas touch, making a success of every division she has started. Her leadership skills have been vouched for by her colleagues, who say she is someone who can successfully bring together a diverse set of people and get them to produce great results. Her ability to influence change has got her many admirers within and beyond the confines of ICICI Group.
Even in her eight years as MD & CEO at ICICI Pru Life, Sharma not only maintained its numero uno position amongst the private sector life insurers, but has also turned it into the largest non-banking subsidiary of the group. Group CEO K.V. Kamath had entrusted her with the job to start a greenfield life insurance venture. “She has the experience to create a winning proposition,” says a senior colleague at the bank. Sharma’s co-workers say as a leader, she approached the business head on and worked tirelessly to build a large network of over 2,000 offices and close to 3 lakh advisors across the country. Arpit Agarwal, former private equity head at ICICI Bank, who closely interacted with her, says: “She has a unique ability to infuse team spirit in people.”
Sharma has also proved to be a leader who studies and reads operating environments very well. Back in 2001, insurance penetration was less than 2 per cent in India—miles behind the 9 per cent of the US or the 12.5 per cent of the UK and Sharma took advantage of this, successfully taking on biggies like LIC. Today, ICICI Pru has a strong capital base of Rs 4,780 crore and assets of over Rs 28,500 crore.
An alumna of IIM-A, Sharma started her career in the erstwhile development financial institution ICICI, back in 1980. Before getting on to ICICI Pru, her big achievement was setting up ICICI Securities in 1992 . In fact, by her own admission, her ‘most memorable moment’ at the bank came when she set up a debt and equity desk at I-Sec. “She doesn’t throw her weight around and deals with everybody in the same simple way,” says Agarwal. As she readies to take up her new challenge at Axis Bank, she leaves behind a cash cow for ICICI Bank that now generates over Rs 8,000 crore insurance premiums annually. Whoever takes over from her will inherit a solid foundation from which he can take the insurance business to even greater heights.
— Anand Adhikari
Even in her eight years as MD & CEO at ICICI Pru Life, Sharma not only maintained its numero uno position amongst the private sector life insurers, but has also turned it into the largest non-banking subsidiary of the group. Group CEO K.V. Kamath had entrusted her with the job to start a greenfield life insurance venture. “She has the experience to create a winning proposition,” says a senior colleague at the bank. Sharma’s co-workers say as a leader, she approached the business head on and worked tirelessly to build a large network of over 2,000 offices and close to 3 lakh advisors across the country. Arpit Agarwal, former private equity head at ICICI Bank, who closely interacted with her, says: “She has a unique ability to infuse team spirit in people.”
Sharma has also proved to be a leader who studies and reads operating environments very well. Back in 2001, insurance penetration was less than 2 per cent in India—miles behind the 9 per cent of the US or the 12.5 per cent of the UK and Sharma took advantage of this, successfully taking on biggies like LIC. Today, ICICI Pru has a strong capital base of Rs 4,780 crore and assets of over Rs 28,500 crore.
An alumna of IIM-A, Sharma started her career in the erstwhile development financial institution ICICI, back in 1980. Before getting on to ICICI Pru, her big achievement was setting up ICICI Securities in 1992 . In fact, by her own admission, her ‘most memorable moment’ at the bank came when she set up a debt and equity desk at I-Sec. “She doesn’t throw her weight around and deals with everybody in the same simple way,” says Agarwal. As she readies to take up her new challenge at Axis Bank, she leaves behind a cash cow for ICICI Bank that now generates over Rs 8,000 crore insurance premiums annually. Whoever takes over from her will inherit a solid foundation from which he can take the insurance business to even greater heights.
— Anand Adhikari
