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The Rising Power of Women in India
Kiran Bedi
Kiran Bedi (born 9 June 1949) is an Indian social activist and a retired Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. Bedi joined the police service in 1972 and became the first woman officer in the IPS. Bedi held the post of Director General at the Bureau of Police Research and Development before she voluntarily retired from the IPS in December 2007. Bedi was the host and judge of the popular TV series "Aap Ki Kachehri" (English, "Your Court"), which is based on real-life disputes and provides a platform for settling disputes between consenting parties.
She has also founded two NGOs in India: the Navjyoti Delhi Police Foundation for welfare and preventative policing in 1988 which was later renamed as the Navjyoti India Foundation in 2007, and the India Vision Foundation for prison reformation, drug abuse prevention and child welfare in 1994. Bedi was awarded Ramon Magsaysay award in 1994 for Government service.
Chanda Kochhar
Chanda Kochhar (born 17 November 1961) is the managing director (MD) of ICICI Bank and its chief executive officer (CEO). ICICI Bank is India's largest private bank and overall second largest bank in the country. She also heads the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.
Nirupama Rao
Nirupama Menon Rao (born December 6, 1950) is a 1973 batch Indian Foreign Service officer who is the current Ambassador of India to the United States of America since August 2011. Prior to this assignment, she has served as Foreign Secretary of India for a period of 2 years.
In July 2009, she became the second woman (after Chokila Iyer) to hold the post of Indian Foreign Secretary, the head of the Indian Foreign Service. In her career she has served in several capacities including, Minister of Press Affairs in Washington, Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow, stints in the Ministry of External Affairs as Joint Secretary (East Asia), (External Publicity) making her the first woman spokesperson of the External Affairs Ministry, Chief of Personnel, Ambassador to Peru and China, and High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Barkha Dutt
Barkha Dutt is an Indian television journalist and columnist. She is currently the group editor with NDTV.
Dutt gained prominence for her reportage of the Kargil War. She has won many national and international awards, including the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian honour. She writes a column for the Hindustan Times called "Third Eye". In 2010 she was one of the journalists taped in the 2G lobbying Radia tapes controversy.
Arundhati Roy
Arundhati Roy (born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author and political activist who was best known for the 1998 Man Booker Prize for Fiction winning novel The God of Small Things (1997) and for her involvement in environmental and human rights causes. Roy’s novel became the biggest-selling book by a nonexpatriate Indian author.
Chitra Ramakrishna
The shy looking Chitra Ramakrishna is all set to head one of the world's biggest securities exchange boards - National Stock Exchange (NSE). Ramakrishna, a chartered accountant, ensured that NSE became a transparent market ecosystem reaching out to thousands of locations in the country. Also, under her leadership, NSE recorded a profit of Rs. 860 crore in 2011.
Mary Kom
Mangte Chungneijang Mary Kom, (born 1 March 1983), also known as MC Mary Kom, Magnificent Mary or simply Mary Kom, is an Indian boxer belonging to Kom tribal community of north-eastern state of Manipur. She is a five-time World Boxing champion, and the only woman boxer to have won a medal in each one of the six world championships. She is the only Indian woman boxer to have qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics, competing in the flyweight (51 kg) category and winning the bronze medal. She has also been ranked as No. 4 AIBA World Women's Ranking Flyweight category.
Kirthiga Reddy
For the uninitiated, Kirthiga is the India head for Facebook. After Facebook set base in India, the user base for the social network went up to over 40 million from a mere 8 million people in less than 2 years. She, along with her team, took up community initiatives touching the lives of millions of students and also got Facebook to support NGOs like Olympic Gold Quest, which groomed Olympic aspirants."
DR. KIRAN MAZUMDAR SHAW
Dr. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Ltd., who became India’s richest woman in 2004, was educated at the Bishop Cotton Girls School and Mount Carmel College in Bangalore. She founded Biocon India with a capital of Rs.10,000 in her garage in 1978 – the initial operation was to extract an enzyme from papaya. Her application for loans were turned down by banks then – on three counts – biotechnology was then a new word, thecompany lacked assets, women entrepreneurs were still a rarity. Today, her company is the bigget biopharmaceutical firm in the country.
EKTA KAPOOR
Ekta Kapoor, creative head of Balaji Telefilms, is the daughter of Jeetendra and sister of Tushar Kapoor. She has been synonymous with the rage of soap operas in Indian TV, after her most famous venture ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ which was aired in 2000 on Star plus. Ekta dominates Indian Television.At the 6th Indian Telly Awards 2006,she bagged the Hall Of Fame award for her contributions.
NEELAM DHAWAN
Neelam Dhawan, Managing Director, Microsoft India, leads Microsoft India. She is a graduate from St. Stephens College in 1980,and also passed out from Delhis Faculty Of Management studies in 1982. Then she was keen on joining FMCG majors like Hindustan Lever and Asian Paints, both companies rejected Dhawan, as they didnot wish to appoint women for marketing and sales.
NAINA LAL KIDWAI
Naina Lal Kidwai, was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School. Fortune magazine listed Kidwai among the worlds top 50 Corporate Women from 2000 to 2003. According to the Economic times, she is the first woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India. ( HSBC)
INDU JAIN
Indu Jain, the multi-faceted lady used to be the Chairman of the Times Group-The most powerful and largest Media house India has known. Indu Jain is known by many different identities such as that of spiritualist,humanist,entrepreneur,an educationalist but most prominently she played the role of the Chairman of Times Group. Indu Jain is the perfect picture of the successful Indian Woman entrepreneur.
PRIYA PAUL
Priya Paul, she has a bachelor’s degree specialising in Economics from Wellesley College, USA. She entered her family business and is currently the Chairperson of Park Hotels.
SIMONE TATA
Simone Tata, has been instrumental in changing a small subsidary of Tata Oil Mills into the largest cosmetic brand in India – LAKME, synonymous today with Indian Fashion. She became a part of Lakme during 1961 and has been responsible for turning the company into one of the biggest brands of fashion in India. At present she is the Chairperson of Trent Limited, a subsidary of Tata Group.
MALLIKA SRINIVASAN
Mallika Srinivasan, currently the Director of TAFE- Tractors and Farm Equipment, India , was honoured with the title of Businesswoman of the Year during 2006 by the Economic Times. She joined the company in 1986 and has since been responsible for accelerating turnover from 85 crores to 2900 crores within a span of 2 decades.
PREETHA REDDY
Preetha Reddy, Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, one of the largest healthcare conglomerates of India, is one of the pioneer businesswoman of India in the segment of Health Care Industry.
RANJANA KUMAR
Ranjana Kumar, currently Vigilance Commissioner in Central Vigilance Commission, after her retirement as the Chairperson of NABARD- National Bank For Agricultural and Rural Development, is a prominent Indian Banker. When the Government of India appointed her as the Chairperson and Managing Director of The Indian Bank, she became the first woman to become head of a public sector bank in India. At that time of her appointment, The Indian Bank was saddled with huge losses and during her tenure she ensured the turn around of The Indian Bank.
Kiran Nadar
Kiran Nadar is an Indian art collector and philanthropist. She is the wife of Shiv Nadar, the founder of HCL Technologies, and is a trustee of the Shiv Nadar Foundation and the founder of Kiran Nadar Museum of Art.
Archana Hingorani
Dr. Archana Hingorani, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, IL&FS Investment Managers Limited, has over 25 years experience in the financial services business, teaching and research. Her focus has been on private equity, project finance and financial structuring, with a specialization in infrastructure, manufacturing and real estate projects. She has been with the IL&FS Group for 17 years, and has performed a multitude of roles – starting off as an economist and moving on to project finance, and asset management. Dr. Hingorani has worked on some of the pioneering private finance transactions in India and has participated in negotiating and structuring project contracts, especially in the infrastructure and real estate sector. Dr Hingorani’s focus over the last 15 years has been on private equity fund management. She is one of the founding members of the IL&FS private equity business and has overseen investments with an aggregate capitalization value in excess of US$ 10 bn. In her present role as Chief Executive Officer, she leads an investment team of around 55 professionals.
Dr. Hingorani is a Bachelor of Arts (Economics) with post-graduate qualifications in Management (MBA) as well as a Ph.D. in Corporate Finance from the University of Pittsburgh, USA. She is also a member of United Nations Environment Programme, Finance Initiative, CII National Committee on Infrastructure Finance and is on the Advisory Council of Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA).
Harshbeena Sahney Zaveri
She heads NRB Bearings of net worthRs.219 crore, which had a turnover ofRs.466 crore in 2011. Because she is the brain behind building in-house technology for auto parts. Because NRB designed the bearings for the dual clutch automatic transmission for the global launch of Ford Fiesta in 2011.
Because NRB provides cutting edge products for the next generation of two-wheelers, automobiles and trucks for big fish like Volvo and Mercedes, apart from almost every Indian manufacturer.
Schauna Chauhan Saluja
Among the powerful women in business in contemporary India, this name has shaped and consistently scaled the ladder of success; the leading Parle Agro's lissome and young CEO, Schauna Chauhan Saluja, the eldest daughter of Prakash Chauhan, its founder. Inheriting the giant Parle firm at the age of 22, Schauna has been an entrepreneurial legend, who has achieved several milestones to make Parle Agro a leading name in the country.
Sneha Rajani
Sneha Rajani has made her mark as a TV executive. First as the head of Max- the cricket and movie channel from the Sony stable - wherein she innovated on the IPL with her seniors CEO Kunal Dasgupta, COO NP Singh and President Rohit Guptaand her Max team mates and made it a hugely successful televised entertainment property.
And over the past year and a half as the Business Head of Sony Entertainment Television - this time under CEO Manjit Singh and COO NP Singh once again - she has turbocharged and awakened a sleepy channel into a fighting fit machine capable of giving the GEC leaders - Star Plus, Colors and Zee TV - a solid run for their money and sleepless nights.
Aruna Jayanthi
The 49-year-old Capgemini veteran is a walking history of the French company's evolution in India. An alumna of Mumbai-based Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Jayanthi joined Capgemini in 2000, as part of the core team responsible for setting up the company's offshore business here.
In a few years, she moved up the ladder to a global role as the head of delivery at the company's outsourcing division. In her current role, she is responsible for leading the consulting, technology services and outsourcing services for Capgemini India that has about 40,000 employees.
Jayanthi was ranked the third most powerful business woman in India in 2012 by Fortune magazine.
Vanitha Narayanan
Working at the computer-maker-turned-services major since 1987, Narayanan has handled multiple roles across divisions, working with large clients of the company.
During her 25-year stint at IBM, Narayanan has worked in various divisions like communications, media and entertainment, telecommunications, and utilities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Narayanan moved to India in 2009, as head of sales and distribution for India and South Asia region where she had revenue and marketshare responsibilities. Within a year, she was elevated as managing partner for the global business services division with responsibility for India and South Asia.
Naina Lal Kidwai
Naina Lal Kidwai, a chartered accountant by profession, is an Indian banker and business executive. She is currently the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India. She was the President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). She also holds a Bachelors degree in Economics from University of Delhi and an MBA fromHarvard Business School in 1982. Kidwai was the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School and also the first woman to guide the functioning of a foreign bank in India. She has also completed her Bachelors of Arts in the year 1977.
Shikha Sharma
Shikha Sharma (born November 19, 1960) is a prominent Indian businessperson. She is CEO of AXIS Bank which is India's third largest bank in the private sector. She started out by working for ICICI Bank for 29 years and was a contender for CEO position but ceded the position to Chanda Kochhar. Under her, AXIS Bank's assets grew 30% in 2012-2013 to $55 billion. Since taking charge, she has more than doubled the bank's network to 1,500 branches and 8,300-plus ATMs. She graduated from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmadabad with a degree in MBA and then found job in ICICI.
Ashni Biyani
Ashni Biyani is daughter of Kishore Biyani, got herself involved in the innovation and incubation division of Future Group at a young age of 22. She did her schooling at Queen Mary, studied at HR College in Mumbai, and did a course in textile designing and design management from Stanford and Parson’s School of Design. It was only three years ago that she joined the Future Group, but Ashni Biyani ate, slept and breathed retail ever since she was born - retail was in her blood. Another bonus is that she has many mentors and guides within Future Group guiding her. She attended the strategy sessions of the company with her father and cousins in her teens. “Initially, I didn’t understand a word of what was being discussed, but started absorbing things slowly. They have become a part of me ever since,” Ashni says, with visible passion.
Neha Kirpal
Neha Kirpal is the Founder and Fair Director of India Art Fair which she started in 2008. Over the last three editions, she has grown the art fair to new heights, expanding it both in scale and scope. Under her direction, the last edition of the fair drew in over 128,000 visitors from around the world, making it one of the most attended public art fairs in the world.
Neha has over 10 years of experience in the creative industries, marketing and event management both in India and the UK which has helped her gain an intrinsic understanding of different markets and develop a truly global perspective for her current and future businesses.
Kiran Rao
Despite the luxe baggage of marrying a Bollywood A-lister, Rao has carved out a niche as one of India's few mainstream female directors. Because in an industry where scripts are written for men, by men and directed by men, she's created a space for unconventional plot-lines with her directorial debut, Dhobi Ghat (2010).
Because the film was a critical success and considered for a nomination in the best non-English film category at the 2012 British Academy of Film and Television Arts Awards.
Because Rao as a producer, has thrown her weight behind neo-urban narratives likeTaare Zameen Par(2007), Jaane Tu ... Yaa Jaane Na(2008) andDelhi Belly(2011). Because her first solo production,Peepli Live(2010) was nominated in the World Cinema Competition at Sundance in 2010.
Pia Singh
K.P Singh has three children and Pia Singh his daughter is the Chairwomen of DLF’s group's entertainment venture. Pia Singh, a whole-time director on the company's board, had 2.28% stake in DLF and has sold 6.089 million shares of the company to other promoter entities. Pia is an active member of BOD and participates in developing the super luxurious projects across India. She is an undergraduate form Wharton School, University ofPennsylvania, with a major in Finance. Pia has also learned film making for six weeks at New YorkUniversity.
Meena Ganesh
Meena Ganesh is the CEO of Pearson Education Services ( TutorVista group), provider of technology-based solutions and digital content. Under her leadership, the company has made a successful foray into the school management space and emerged as the fastest growing school chain in India. Prior to this, Meena was the CEO of Tesco’s operations in India, the Tesco Hindustan Service Center. And before coming on board Tesco, Meena co-founded one of India’s pioneering BPO companies: Customer Asset, which she sold to ICICI OneSource.
Meena Ganesh is an angel investor too and plans to invest in 100 digital startups in India. Meena has invested in e-commerce companies such as BlueStone and BigBasket.
Renuka Ramnath
Renuka Ramnath, a private equity investment manager, pioneered the establishment of ICICI Eco-Net Limited, a company promoted by the ICICI Bank, the second largest bank of India. ICICI Eco-net was re-structured to merge with ICICI Venture, a company floated in 1988 as a joint venture between the ICICI Limited and the Unit Trust of India.
Ramnath has been the Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Venture since 2001. Under her leadership, ICICI Venture manages an aggregate corpus of $2,000,000,000 in private equity, buyouts, real estate and mezzanine assets.
During her career spanning over 20 years with the ICICI Group, Renuka has spearheaded various business initiatives. She began her career at the Merchant Banking division of ICICI and then headed the Corporate Finance and Equities businesses at ICICI Securities, an investment banking JV between ICICI and JP Morgan. She moved back to ICICI in 1997 to set up the Structured Finance business.
In 2000, she spearheaded the e-Commerce initiatives for the ICICI Bank group and built a solid foundation spanning the entire B2B, B2C and technology opportunities. Under her leadership, ICICI Venture has raised India Advantage Fund Series 2, a growth capital and buyout fund with a corpus of USD 810 million which is currently India's largest private equity fund. In 2005, ICICI raised a $550,000,000 real estate investment fund (REIT), one of India's largest REITs.
She has been profiled and included in many prestigious lists including the Top 25 Most Powerful Women in Indian Business (Business Today) and recently in the India's Most Powerful CEOs (Economic Times).
Ramnath is a graduate in Engineering from the prestigious Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute(VJTI), Mumbai and holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Bombay. She also completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Saina Nehwal
Saina Nehwal born 17 March 1990 in Dhindar, Hisar, Haryana) is an Indian Khel Ratna badmintonplayer who attained a career best ranking of #2 in December 2010 by Badminton World Federation. Saina is the first Indian to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympics.She achieved this feat by winning the Bronze medal at the London Olympics 2012on 4 August 2012. She is the first Indian to win the World Junior Badminton Championships. Saina was also the first Indian to win a Super Series tournament, by clinching the Indonesia Open with a victory over higher-ranked Chinese Wang Lin in Jakarta on 21 June 2009. Saina is supported by the Olympic Gold Quest.
Saina won her second career Super Series title by winning the Singapore Open title on 20 June 2010. She completed a hat-trick in the same year by winning the Indonesian Open on 27 June 2010. This win resulted in her rise to 3rd ranking and subsequently to No. 2. Later in the same year she also won Hong Kong Super Series on 12 December 2010. After experiencing a poor 2011 season, Saina became the first Indian singles player to reach the summit stage of year-ending Super Series Finals defeating two-time All England champion and former World No. 1 Tine Baun in the semi-finals, a feat she repeated in the quarterfinals in the London Olympics 2012. Though she lost in the semi-finals of London Olympics 2012 to Wang Yihan, she secured the bronze medal against Wang Xin. After Xin won the first game 21–18, Xin had to walk out of the match due to aggravation of her knee injury, thus making Saina the winner.
Previously coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner, Saina is the reigning Indian national junior champion and is currently coached by Indonesian badminton legend Atik Jauhari since August 2008, with the former All England champion and national coach Pullela Gopichand being her mentor.
Saina Nehwal was born in a Jat family at Hisar in Haryana and completed first few years of her schooling from Campus School. Her Father Harvir Singh originally hails from village "Dhindar" which falls under Modinagar Tehsil in District Ghaziabad(U.P). Harvir Singh initially worked in CCS HAU and they then had their residence in the University Campus. He later shifted to Hyderabad & so Saina spent her growing years in Hyderabad, India. Her foray into the world of badminton was influenced by her father Dr. Harvir Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, Hyderabad and her mother Usha Nehwal, both of whom were former badminton champions in Haryana. She is the top ranked player (women) in Indian Badminton history. In 2012, journalist and former NDTV editor T. S. Sudhir wrote a biography on Saina.
She is India’s highest-paid non-cricketing sportsperson as on September 2012.
Vidya Balan
Vidya Balan born 1 January 1978 is an Indian film actress who appears in Hindi, Bengali, andMalayalam language films. At age sixteen, Balan landed her first acting role, in the sitcom Hum Paanch (1995). After making several unsuccessful attempts to start a career in film, she acted in television commercials and music videos. In 2003, she made her feature film debut with the independent Bengali drama Bhalo Theko.
In 2005 Balan garnered praise for her first Hindi film, Parineeta, and followed it with a leading role in the blockbuster Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006). Her subsequent portrayal of glamorous characters in the films Heyy Babyy (2007) and Kismat Konnection(2008) met with negative comments from film critics. The year 2009, however, marked the beginning of the most successful period in Balan's career as she portrayed five consecutive roles to wide critical acclaim in Paa (2009), Ishqiya (2010), No One Killed Jessica (2011), The Dirty Picture (2011), and Kahaani (2012). These roles have earned her the tag of a "female hero" and established her as a leading contemporary actress of Hindi cinema.
Balan has received one National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards and five Screen Awards. She initially drew criticism for her fluctuating weight and poor dress sense, but was later credited in the media for retaining her individuality and breaking stereotypes of a Hindi film heroine. Balan is a social activist and supports the empowerment of women. In December 2012, she married film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur.
Pratibha Patil
Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934) is an Indian politician who served as the 12thPresident of India from 2007 to 2012; she was the first woman to hold the office. She was sworn in as President on 25 July 2007, succeeding Abdul Kalam, after defeating her rival Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. She retired from the office in July 2012. She was succeeded as President by Pranab Mukherjee.
Patil is a member of the Indian National Congress (INC) and was nominated for the presidency by the governing United Progressive Alliance and Indian Left.
Sonia Gandhi
Sonia Gandhi ( 9 December 1946) is an Italian-born Indian politician, who has served as President of the Indian National Congress party since 1998. She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi and belongs to the Nehru–Gandhi family. After her husband's assassination in 1991, she was invited by Congress leaders to take over the government; but she refused and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding from the party. She finally agreed to join politics in 1997; in 1998, she was elected as President of the Congress.
She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004. In September 2010, on being re-elected for the fourth time, she became the longest serving president in the 125-year history of the Congress party.Her foreign birth has been a subject of much debate and controversy.Although Sonia is actually the fifth foreign-born person to be leader of the Congress Party, she is the first since independence in 1947.
Mamata Banerjee
Mamata Banerjee (born 5 January 1955) is the 11th and current Chief Minister of West Bengal. She is the first woman to hold the office. Banerjee founded the party All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC or TMC) in 1997 and became its chairperson, after separating from the Indian National Congress.She is usually called "Didi" (meaning elder sister in Bengali). In 2011 Banerjee pulled off a landslide victory for the TMC Congress alliance in West Bengalby defeating the world's longest-serving democratically-elected communist government, the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front government, bringing to an end 34 years of Left Front rule in the state. Banerjee previously served as aMinister of Railways twice and is also the first women Railway Minister of India, Minister of Coal, and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Department of Youth Affairs and Sports and Women and Child Development in the cabinet of the Indian government. She opposed forceful land acquisition for industrialisation by the then communist government in West Bengal for Special Economic Zones at the cost of agriculturalists and farmers.
In 2012, the Time magazine named her one of the "100 Most influential People in the World".
In September,2012 Bloomberg Markets magazine listed her among the 50 most influential people in the world of finance.
Jayalalithaa
Jayalalithaa Jayaram (born 24 February 1948, and commonly referred to as J. Jayalalitha), is the current Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. She was a popular film star in Indian cinema before her entry into politics, having appeared in manyTamil and Telugu films, as well as produced in Hindi and Kannada. She is the incumbent general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). She is called Amma ('Mother') and sometimes Puratchi Thalaivi ('Revolutionary Leader') by her followers.
Although there have been claims that Jayalalithaa was introduced to politics by M. G. Ramachandran, she has denied this. She was a member of the Rajya Sabha elected from Tamil Nadu during the period of 1984–89. Soon after the death of Ramachandran, Jayalalithaa proclaimed herself as his political heir. She is the second elected female Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu.
Vandana Luthra
Mrs. Vandana Luthra, Founder & Mentor of the VLCC Group has been conferred the “Power Brands Hall of Fame Corporate Icon of the Year” award for her entrepreneurship and contribution in the Health & Wellness industry. The award was presented at a gala ceremony held atthe Marriot Grosvenor Hotel in London. The evening also recognized and honored some corporate big wigs like Mr.Subroto Roy, (Sahara Group), Mr.Adi Godrej (Godrej Group), Dr.KiranMajumdar Shaw (Biocon Ltd.), Lord Billomoria (Cobra Beer).The event witnessed the presence of some of India’s biggest business Icons and dignitaries from around the world such as Sir Robert Worcester (reknownedpsephologist), Lord Meghnad Desai, Lord Swraj Paul, Mr. Guy Kawasaki(former chief evangelist of Apple), Canadian Politician& Former MP Dr. Ruby Dhalla, British MP Ms. Priti Patel, Mr. SiddharthMallya, Dr. Raghupati Singhania (Vice Chairman& MD, JK Tyres),Mr. AnirudhDhoot (Director, Videocon Industries), Actor – Director Mr. FarhanAkhtar, Mr. Raman Roy (Chairman & MD, Quattro BPO Solutions), Mr. MehulChoksi (Chairman & MD, Gitanjali Group) among several others.
Mrs. Luthra was also featured last month in the Fortune magazine’s list of the 50 most powerful women in business in India. In fact, it is for the first time that “Fortune” listed India’s 50 most powerful businesswomen, proving that women are increasingly making their mark in every field of business. The rapid emergence of the corporate sector and the spread of higher education among girls have meant that women are more than ever before taking up professional positions in companies.
As the Founder &Mentor of VLCC, Mrs. Vandana Luthra is the guiding force behind the region’s premier health, beauty and wellness brand. VLCC’s presence currently spans 260 locations across 109 cities in nine countries, including the UAE, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal. The Groupemploys nearly 6000 professionals, the majority of whom are doctors, neurologists, psychologists, cosmetologists, beauticians and physiotherapists.
As a part of her philanthropic efforts Mrs. Luthraactively helps the underprivileged and physically challenged by providing them with free scholarships. She is also the Vice Chairperson of Khushii, one of India’s leading NGO, which has projects such as tele-medicine centers, a remedial school with mid-day meals and other support facilities. She is a trustee of the National Children’s Fund, constituted by the Government of India, under the aegis of the Ministry of Women & Children’s Development, and a member of a special task force for empowerment of women. The peer recognition and the laurels she received in recent years include the Enterprise Asia Women Entrepreneur of the year 2010, E&Y Entrepreneur of the year 2009 finalist, Rajiv Gandhi Award 2008, Outstanding Businesswoman award (PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry) in 2007, Amity Woman Achiever Award for promoting Health & Fitness solutions in 2006.
Ritu Kumar
Ritu Kumar (born November 11, 1944) is an Indian fashion designer, based in Delhi.She was awarded the Padma Shri by Government of India in 2013.
Sheila Dixit
Sheila Dikshit (born 31 March 1938) is an Indian politician who has served as Chief Minister of Delhi since 1998. She is a member of the Indian National Congress and has led the party to a record three consecutive electoral victories in Delhi. Dikshit represents the New Delhi constituency in the Legislative Assembly of Delhi.
Sushma Swaraj
Sushma Swaraj , (born 14 February 1953 Ambala Cantt) is a Six terms Member of Parliament, three times MLA and now Leader of Opposition(India) in present 15th Lok Sabha. She is a former Union Cabinet Minister of India and a former Chief Minister of Delhi. She became the country's youngest Cabinet Minister at 25 years of age in 1977.
Lata Mangeshkar
Lata Mangeshkar (born 28 September 1929) is an Indian singer, and occasional music-composer. She is one of the best-known and most respected playback singers in India.Mangeshkar's career started in 1942 and has spanned over six and a half decades. She has recorded songs for over a thousand Hindi films and has sung songs in over thirty-six regional Indian languages and foreign languages, though primarily in Hindi. She is the elder sister of singer Asha Bhosle, Hridayanath Mangeshkar, Usha Mangeshkar and Meena Mangeshkar. She is the second vocalist to have ever been awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour.
Mangeshkar was featured in the Guinness Book of World Records from 1974 to 1991 for having made the most recordings in the world. The claim was that she had recorded approximately 25,000 solo, duet, and chorus-backed songs in 20 Indian languages between 1948 to 1974. Over the years, while several sources have supported this claim, others have raised concerns over its veracity, claiming that this number was highly exaggerated and that Mangeshkar's younger sister, Asha Bhosle, had more song recordings than she had. In 2011 Guinness officially acknowledged Bhosle as the most recorded artist in music history.
Asha Bhosle
Asha Bhosle (born September 8, 1933) is an Indian singer. She is best known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema, although she has a wider repertoire. Bhosle's career started in 1943 and has spanned over six decades. She has done playback singing for over a thousand Bollywood movies. In addition, she has recorded several private albums and participated in numerous solo concerts in India and abroad. Bhosle is the sister of playback singer Lata Mangeshkar.
Renowned for her voice range and often credited for her versatility, Bhosle's work includes film music, pop, ghazals,bhajans, traditional Indian classical music, folk songs, qawwalis, and Rabindra Sangeets. Apart from Hindi, she has sung in over 20 Indian and foreign languages. In 2006, Asha Bhosle stated that she had sung over 12,000 songs, a figure repeated by several other sources.The World Records Academy, an international organization which certifies world records, recognised her as the "Most Recorded Artist" in the world, in September 2009.In 2011 she was officially acknowledged by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most recorded artist in music history.The Government of Indiahonoured her with the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 2000 and the Padma Vibhushan in 2008.
Mayawati
Mayawati (born 15 January 1956 in New Delhi) is an Indian politician. She served four terms as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh(UP) as head of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), which focuses on a platform of social change to improve the welfare of the weakest strata of Indian society—the Bahujans or Dalits, Other Backward Classes, and religious minorities. After losing the 2012 legislative assembly elections to the rival Samajwadi Party, she resigned from her post as party leader on 7 March 2012. Later that month she was elected by acclamation to a seat in the Rajya Sabha (upper house of Parliament).
Mayawati's rise from humble beginnings has been called a "miracle of democracy" by P. V. Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India. In 1993 Mayawati formed a coalition with the Samajwadi Party and emerged, at 39, the youngest Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and the first female Dalit Chief Minister in India. In 1997 and in 2002 she was Chief Minister in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party, the second time for a full term.
Mayawati's tenure has attracted praise and controversy. Millions of Dalits view her as an icon, and refer to her as Behen-ji(sister). She has been praised for her fundraising efforts on behalf of her party and her birthdays have become major media events and a symbol for her supporters. The rise in her personal wealth and that of her party have been criticised as indicative of corruption.
Krishna Poonia
Krishna Poonia, is a national woman discus throw champion of India. She led an Indian clean sweep in the women's discus final on 11 October 2010, winning the Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medal with a throw of 61.51 metres.
Deepika Kumari
Deepika Kumari (born 13 June 1994) is an Indian athlete who competes in the event of Archery and is currently ranked World No. 2. She was born in the city of Ranchi, in the state of Jharkhand, India. She won gold medal in the 2010 Commonwealth games in the women's individual recurve event. She also won gold medal in the same competition in the women's team recurve event along with Dola Banerjee and Bombayala Devi.
Kumari qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, where she competed in the Women's Individual and Women's team events, finishing in eighth place in the latter.
She was conferred with Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award in the year 2012 by President of India Pranab Mukherjee.
Jwala Gutta
Jwala Gutta is a left-handed Indian badminton player of mixed Indian and Chinese descent who has won the National Badminton Championships thirteen times until 2010. She is a doubles badminton player who has partnered withShruti Kurien and later Ashwini Ponnappa. She was the wife of Chetkan Anand, an Arjuna Awardee; however, the two divorced in 2011.
Meira Kumar
Meira Kumar is an Indian politician and a five time Member of Parliament. She was elected unopposed as the first woman Speaker of Lok Sabha on 3 June 2009. She was born on March 31, 1945 in Bihar, India.
She is a lawyer and a former diplomat. Prior to being a member of the 15th Lok Sabha, she has been elected earlier to the 8th,11th, 12th and 14th Lok Sabha, wherein she remained Cabinet Minister in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment(2004–2009).
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi
Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi (born 28 October 1955) is an Indian-American business executive and the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage business in the world by net revenue.According to Forbes, she is consistently ranked among World's 100 Most Powerful Women.
Sania Mirza
Sania Mirza (born 15 November 1986, in Bombay) is a professional Indian tennis player, well known for her powerful forehand ground strokes. She is the current Indian No.1 in both singles and doubles and has held this position since 2003. In her career, Mirza has notable wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Marion Bartoli; former World No. 1s Martina Hingis and Dinara Safina; and current World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.
Mirza is the highest ranked female tennis player ever from India, with a career high ranking of 27 in singles and 7 in doubles. She is the first Indian female player to surpass US$1m in career earnings; first Indian to win a WTA Tour title of any kind; and, by winning the 2009 Australian Open – Mixed Doubles Event, became the third Indian, male or female, to win a Grand Slam title (the first two being Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes). Mirza has also won the 2012 French Open – Mixed DoublesEvent (her second Grand Slam title).
Mirza was named one of the '50 heroes of Asia' by Time in October 2005. In March 2010, The Economic Times named Mirza in the list of the "33 women who made India proud".
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