In a sign of the growing clout of women business leaders from India, eight such leaders feature in Asia’s 50 Power Businesswomen 2016 list, released by Forbes on April 6, including Nita Ambani, the 52-year-old director of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL).
Nita Ambani, who is also the chairman of Reliance Foundation, the oil-to-yarn and retail conglomerate’s philanthropic arm, is joined by State Bank of India chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya; Ambiga Dhiraj, CEO of data analytics firm Mu Sigma; Dipali Goenka, CEO and joint managing director of textile firm Welspun India Ltd; Vinita Gupta, CEO of pharmaceuticals company Lupin Ltd; Chanda Kochhar, MD and CEO of India’s largest private sector lender ICICI Bank; Vandana Luthra, founder of beauty and wellness company VLCC Health Care Ltd; and Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, chairman and managing director of biopharmaceuticals firm Biocon Ltd.