Arundhati Bhattacharya

Arundhati Bhattacharya
24th Chairman of State Bank of India
In office
7 October 2013 – 6 October 2017
Preceded by Pratip Chaudhuri
Succeeded by Rajnish Kumar (banker)
Personal details
Born (1956-03-18) 18 March 1956
Kolkata, West Bengal, India
Nationality Indian
Spouse(s) Pritimoy Bhattacharya
Residence Mumbai, India[1]
Alma mater

Jadavpur University[1]

St. Xavier's School, Bokaro

Arundhati Bhattacharya is a retired Indian banker and former Chairman of the State Bank of India.[1] She is the first woman to be the Chairman of State Bank of India . In 2016, she was listed as the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes.[2] She is the only Indian listed on Fortune's world's greatest leaders list ranked at 26.

Personal life

Bhattacharya was born in a Bengali family in the city of Kolkata.She spent her childhood in Bhilai. Her father, Prodyut Kumar Mukherjee worked at Bokaro Steel Plant. Her mother, Kalyani Mukherjee was a homeopathy consultant in Bokaro. She completed her schooling from St. Xavier's School, Bokaro[3]

She studied English Literature at Calcutta’s Lady Brabourne College and then at Jadavpur University. Her husband, Pritimoy Bhattacharya ,[4] is an ex-professor of IIT Kharagpur.

Career

Bhattacharya joined SBI in September 1977. She is the first woman to lead an India-based Fortune India 500 company. Initially, she joined SBI in 1977 as a Probationary Officer at the age of 22 years.[5] She has held several positions during her 36-year career with the bank including working in foreign exchange, treasury, retail operations, human resources and investment banking. This included positions like the chief executive of the bank's merchant banking arm- State Bank of India Capital Markets; chief general manager in charge of new projects. She has also served at the bank's New York office. She has been involved with the launch of several new businesses such as SBI General Insurance, SBI Custodial Services, SBI Pension Funds Pvt. Ltd. and the SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund.[5] She succeeded Pratip Chaudhuri, as Chairman, who retired 30 Sep. 2013[6] She introduced a two-year sabbatical leave policy for the bank's female employees to use either for maternity or elder care. On Women's day, she announced free vaccination against cervical cancer to all the bank's female employees.

In 2016, she was named the 25th most powerful woman in the world by Forbes, which was her first time being ranked on the list.[2] In the same year, she was ranked among the FP Top 100 Global Thinkers by Foreign Policy magazine [7] She was named the 4th most powerful women in Asia Pacific by Fortune.[8] In 2017, India Today magazine ranked her at 19th in India's 50 Most powerful people of 2017 list.[9]

She was due for retirement in October 2016, but was granted an extension till October 2017, allegedly for the controversial merger of the SBI’s five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank, in the wake of gross non-performing assets (GNPAs) mounting to 73 percent; the present government justifying the move through Banks Board Bureau, who consolidated her extension.[10]

In 2018 she was named Business Leader of the Year at The Asian Awards.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Arundhati Bhattacharya". Forbes
  2. 1 2 "The World's 100 Most Powerful Women". Forbes. Forbes. Retrieved 7 June 2016.
  3. ↑ "All you need to know about Arundhati Bhattacharya, SBIs first woman chief". FirstPost.
  4. ↑ "Steady climb to the top". telegraphindia.
  5. 1 2 Mayur Shetty (8 October 2013). "SBI gets its first woman chair in 206 years". The Times of India. Retrieved 14 October 2013.
  6. ↑ "Arundhati Bhattacharya is new chief of SBI".
  7. ↑ "Narendra Modi named top decision maker, BJP's Amit Shah, SBI's Arundhati Bhattacharya too in 'Global Thinkers' list".
  8. ↑ "Fortune's List of Most Powerful Women in Asia-Pacific Has 8 Indians".
  9. ↑ "India's 50 powerful people". India Today. April 14, 2017.
  10. ↑ Arundhati Bhattacharya term as SBI Chairman extended till October 2017
  11. ↑ "Asian Awards 2018: Recognition with Lots of Glitz and Glamour". Desiblitz. 29 April 2018.
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