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Chanda Kochhar

2017 Recipient of the Woodrow Wilson Award for Global Corporate Citizenship

    Professional affiliation

    Managing Director & Chief Executive Officer, ICICI Bank Limited

    Full Biography

    Chanda Kochhar is the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ICICI Bank Limited.  She is widely recognised for her role in shaping the retail banking sector in India and for her leadership of the ICICI Group, as well as her contributions to various forums in India and globally.

    Ms. Kochhar began her career, with the erstwhile ICICI Limited in 1984 and was elevated to the Board of Directors of ICICI Bank in 2001. She was instrumental in establishing ICICI Bank during the 1990s. She subsequently went on to head the infrastructure finance and corporate banking business at the Bank. In 2000, she took on the challenge of building the nascent retail business, focusing on technology, innovation, process reengineering and scaling up of distribution and taking the Bank to a leadership position in this business. During 2006-2007, she led the Bank’s corporate and international banking businesses during a period of heightened activity and global expansion by Indian companies. From 2007 to 2009, she was the Joint Managing Director & Chief Financial Officer of the Bank. This was a critical period which saw rapid change in the global financial landscape. She was elevated as the Managing Director & CEO of ICICI Bank in 2009 and since then has been responsible for the Bank’s diverse operations in India and overseas. She also chairs the boards of most of the Bank’s principal subsidiaries, which include India’s leading private sector life and general insurance companies.

    In addition to her responsibilities at the ICICI Group, Ms. Kochhar is a member of the India – Japan Business Leaders Forum, the US-India CEO Forum and the Board of Trade. She is also the Deputy Chairman of the Indian Banks Association. She is on the boards of the National Institute of Securities Markets and Institute of International Finance. She was the President of the International Monetary Conference, an organization that annually brings together the chief executives of approximately 70 of the world’s largest financial institutions from 30 countries, along with officials from government institutions in 2015-16.

    Ms. Kochhar has been a member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Trade & Industry, the Board of Trade and High-Level Committee on Financing Infrastructure. She was also the co-chair of the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in 2011.

    Ms. Kochhar received an honorary Doctor of Laws from Carleton University, Canada in 2014. The university conferred this award on Ms. Kochhar in recognition of her pioneering work in the financial sector, effective leadership in times of economic crisis and support for engaged business practices.

    She was conferred with the Padma Bhushan, one of India's highest civilian honours, in 2011.

    Ms. Kochhar has been recognised time and again in many of the prestigious power lists. She has been featured in ‘The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’ list by Forbes International for seven consecutive years and the ‘Most Powerful Women in Business’ list by Fortune India for five consecutive years. She was also named among TIME magazine’s ‘100 Most Influential People in the world’ in 2015. 

    Awards & Recognition

    2016

    • Ranked 5th in Fortune’s list of ‘Most Powerful Women International 2016’ comprising of 50 influential women outside the U.S.
    • Featured in Forbes list of ‘The World's 100 Most Powerful Women 2016’
    • Ranked 10th on Forbes list of ‘The World's Most Powerful Women In Finance 2016’
    • Ranked 40th on India Today's 'High and Mighty Power List 2016'
    • Ranked 22nd in the Forbes Asia's '50 Power Businesswomen 2016' list
       

    2015

    • Named as one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world
    • Ranked 36th in the Forbes List of ‘World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’
    • Featured in Forbes list of ‘Asia’s Power Women 2015’
    • Ranked 1st in Fortune’s list of ‘Most Powerful Women of Asia-Pacific’
    • Ranked 2nd in Fortune India’s list of ‘Most Powerful Women in Business’
    • Awarded the ‘Asia Game Changer Award’ by the Asia Society
    • Featured in CNBC TV18’s ‘Top 15 Indian Business Icons’
       

    2014

    • Awarded the ‘Banker of the Year’ by Zee Business
    • Ranked 2nd in Fortune’s list of ‘Most Powerful Women of Asia – Pacific’. She is the highest ranked woman from India, on this list.
    • The highest ranked woman featured in India Today’s ‘High and Mighty Power List 2014’
    • Featured in The Telegraph (UK) list of '11 most important women in finance'
    • Ranked 2nd in Fortune India’s list of ‘Most Powerful Women in Business
    • Ranked 43rd in the Forbes list of ’The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’
    • Awarded for ‘Excellence in Banking’ at the ‘Mumbai Women of the Decade Achievers Awards’ organized by ASSOCHAM
       

    2013

    • Ranked 1st for the third consecutive year, in Fortune India’s list of most powerful business women
    • Conferred with the ‘Best CEO – Private Sector’ at the Forbes India Leadership Awards
    • Ranked 4th, in Fortune’s international list of ‘50 Most Powerful Women in Business’
    • Awarded the 'Transformation Leader Award' by NDTV Profit Business Leadership Awards 2012
    • Ranked 65th in the Forbes list of ’The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women’
    • Featured in the Power List of 25 most powerful women in India, by India Today, for the third year in a row
    • The only Indian to be featured in the Dow Jones list of Most Influential Female Executives in the World of the last decade. She is ranked 12th in the global list
    • Awarded the Businessperson Of The Year 2012 by Business India. She is the first woman recipient of this award in 31 years
    • Recipient from India of the 4th Asian Corporate Director Recognition Awards 2013
       

    2012

    • Topped the list of ’50 Most Powerful Women in Business’ by Fortune India
    • Ranked 18th in Fortune’s list of '2012 Businesspersons of the Year’. This is Fortune’s annual ranking of 50 global leaders who are ’the best in business’
    • Ranked 5th, for the second consecutive year in Fortune’s international list of ’50 Most Powerful Women in Business’
    • Ranked 59th in the World's 100 Most Powerful Women by Forbes
    • Named amongst the nine Indian women in the Forbes’ inaugural ’Asia Power Businesswomen’ list
    • Conferred with CNBC Asia's India Business Leader of the Year award
    • Named the ’Business Person of the Year’ by Business India. Ms. Kochhar is the first woman to receive this award that was instituted 31 years ago
    • Named amongst the ’25 most powerful professional women’ in the country by India Today for the second year



    2011

    • Ranked 5th by Fortune in the International list of ’50 Most Powerful Women in Business’
    • Ranked 17th among the ’25 Most Powerful CEOs’ in Asia by Fortune
    • Ranked 43rd ’Most Powerful Woman’ in the world by Forbes
    • Named among the ’50 most influential people in global finance” by Bloomberg Markets magazine
    • Named among the ’Two best Indian CEOs’ in an annual poll by Finance Asia
    • Ranked 10th by Financial Times in the ’Top 50 Women in World Business’
    • Received the ’Global Leadership Award’ from the US-India Business Council
    • Named ’Most Powerful Woman in Indian Business’ by Fortune India
    • The first woman to be named as the ’Business Leader of the Year’ by The Economic Times
    • Featured in the ’Hall Of Fame - Most Powerful Women in Indian Business’ by Business Today
    • Conferred with the ’Transformational Business Leader of the Year’, award by All India Management Association



    2010

    • Ranked 10th in the list of ’Most Powerful Women in Business’ by Fortune
    • Ranked 92nd in the list of ’Most Powerful Women’ in the world by Forbes
    • Conferred with the ’Outstanding Woman Business Leader of the Year’ award by CNBC TV18
    • Conferred with the ’Banker of the Year Award’ by Financial Express
    • Featured in the list of ’30 Most Powerful Women Leaders’ in Business Today for eight consecutive years from 2002 to 2010