Chanda Kocchar

Born November 17, 1961

Jodhpur, India

Occupation CEO and MD, ICICI Bank

Children A son and a daughter

Chanda Kochhar (born November 17, 1961) is currently the Managing Director (MD) of ICICI
Bank and 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.
Early life

Chanda Kochhar was born in Jodhpur, Rajasthan and raised in Jaipur, Rajasthan. She then
moved to Mumbai, where she joined Jai Hind College for a Bachelor of Arts degree. After
graduating in 1982 she then pursued Cost Accountancy ICWAI, Later, she acquired the Masters
Degree in Management Studies from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Mumbai.
She received the Wockhardt Gold Medal for Excellence in Management Studies as well as the J.
N. Bose Gold Medal in Cost Accountancy for highest marks in the same year.

Chanda Kochhar currently resides in Mumbai, and is married to Deepak Kochhar, a wind energy
entrepreneur and her Business schoolmate. She has two children, a son and a daughter.

Career

Chanda Kochhar started her professional career in the year 1984 and can be divided into three
phases-

 1984–1993

In 1984, Chanda Kochhar joined "The Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India
Ltd" or ICICI Ltd. as a Management trainee after her Masters. In her early years in ICICI, she
handled Project Appraisal and Monitoring and projects in various industries like Petrochemicals,
Textile, Paper and Cement.

 1993–2006

In 1993, Kochhar was sent to ICICI bank as part of a core team to set the bank. She was
promoted to Assistant General Manager in 1994 and then to Deputy General Manager in 1996. In
1996, Kochhar headed the newly formed the Infrastructure Industry Group of ICICI, which
aimed "to create dedicated industry expertise in the areas of Power, Telecom and Transportation".
In 1998, she was promoted as the General Manager and headed ICICI's “Major Client Group”,
which handled relationships with ICICI's top 200 clients. In 1999, she also handled the Strategy
and E-commerce divisions of ICICI. Under Kochhar's leadership, ICICI bank started the Retail
business in July 2000 and emerged the largest retail financer in India, in the next five years. In
April 2001, she took over as Executive Director, heading the in ICICI Bank.

 2006–present

In April 2006, Chanda Kochhar was appointed as Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank. She
managed the Corporate and Retail banking business of ICICI Bank. From October 2006 to
October 2007, she handled the International and Corporate businesses of ICICI Bank. From
October 2007 to April 2009, Kochhar was also the bank's Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Joint
Managing Director (JMD) and the official spokesperson. She also headed the Corporate Centre
of ICICI Bank. She is also a director of different ICICI group companies. She is the chairperson
of ICICI Bank Eurasia Limited Liability Company and ICICI Investment Management Company
Limited. Kochhar is the Vice-Chairperson of ICICI Bank UK PLC and ICICI Bank Canada. She
is a director in ICICI International Limited and ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company Ltd.
and part of the Governing Council in 1964. The ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth Member.

Kochhar is CEO and MD of ICICI Bank from May 2009 for a period of five years. She succeeds
K. V. Kamath, who was CEO of the bank since 1996.
Entrepreneurship Qualities in Chanda Kochhar

Quality of Leadership
The ability to influence a group toward the achievement of goals are-
 Her leadership qualities grown with the banks growth.
 Transformed ICICI from a corporate bank into a retail bank.
 Joined the corporate side of the bank.
 She set up the infrastructure-financing practice for the bank.
 Set up the retail-banking division for ICICI and grew it substantially.

Ability to adapt to the changes

 Constant challenges have helped Kochhar to develop and adapt herself to the the
country’s and the company’s evolvement.
 Moving from corporate banking to retail banking to international banking to supervisory
roles has helped her to reinvent herself.
 But every move fed on the previous one. When she moved from corporate to consumer
banking, she bought a lot of synergy with her.
 But when she moved from consumer banking to international banking, she bought a lot of
insights from India which could be implemented globally.

Ability to take challenges

 In 2000, she decided to keep the bank open for twelve hours in a day when other banks
were open for four to seven hours a day.
 She was also one of the bankers who came up with electronic banking and installed 2000
ATM machines all over India.
 Head of Internet banking division to start up and grew E- banking.

Ambitious
 Set up the retail banking division for ICICI and grew it substantially.
 The head of India’s ICICI bank is transforming her business with conservative lending
and tactical cost cutting.
  A determined woman with an ambitious goal- She want ICICI to be among the world’s
twenty biggest banks within the next decade. It’s a challenge she says she’s more then
ready to tackle.

Quality of Patience
 September 2008: Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The financial industry shattered.
 Chanda Kochhar: Found herself in the middle of a potential company catastrophe.
 Chanda did what most executives would do in a similar situation.
 As spokesperson : reassured the country via TV and other media outlets that their money
was safe.
 Unlike most executives, however, she did much more than that. She did not panic on
situation and handled it carefully.

OPTIMISTIC
 An eternal optimist she does not shriek away from challenges. She believes that new
entrants cannot disrupt large banks and that competition provides the best value to the
customer.
 She also handled criticism from the predominately male bastions of the Banking Sector
for her radical reforms with quiet dignity and only let her work speak for itself.

Awards and Accolades

2014

 Named among fortune’s 50 most powerful women in business for the fourth consecutive
year.
 Received the “Mumbai women of the Decade.”

2013
  Ranked as the most powerful women in business in India for the third consecutive year in
fortune’s list of ‘50 Most powerful women in business: The Global 50’s. She is among
the four most powerful women in business in the world, according to the list.
 Conferred the “AIMA JRD TATA Corporate Leadership Award” 2012
 Recipient of the 4th Asian Corporate Director Recoginition Awards 2013.
 Ranked as the most powerful business women in India in the Forbes list of ‘The World’s
100 most powerful women 2013.’
 Received the “Transformation Leader Award” by NDTV Profit Business Leadership
Award 2012.
 Featured for the third year in a row in the power list 2013 of 25 most powerful women in
India by India Today.
 Is the only Indian to be featured in the Dow James list of Most Influential Female
Executive in the world of the last decade.
 Awarded the business person of the year 2012 by Business India. She is the first woman
recipient of this award in 31 years.

2012

 Topped the list of “50 Most Powerful Women in “Business” by the fortune India.
 Named amongst the nine Indian Women in the Forbes inaugural ”Asia Power
Businesswomen” list.
 Ranked fifth in the list of the “Most Powerful CEOs” in India by the Economic Times
and first in the list of “Top Women CEO’s” in the country.
 Ranked 59th in the world’s 100 most powerful women by the Forbes.

2011

 Ranked fifth by Fortune in the international list of “50 Most Powerful Women in
Business.”
 Ranked 17th among the “25 most powerful CEO’s in Asia by Fortune.
 Ranked 43rd among Most powerful women in the world by the Forbes.
 Named among the “50 most influential people in global finance” by Bloomberg markets
magazine.
 Named among the “two best Indian CEO” in an annual poll by Finance Asia.
 Received the “Global Leadership Award” from the VS-India Business Council.
 Named “Most Powerful Women in Indian Business” by fortune India.
  The first woman to be named as the “Business Leader of the Year” by the Economic
Times.

Conferred with “Padma Bhushan” which was given away by president in a ceremony at
Rashtrapati

2010

 Ranked 10th in the list of “Most powerful women in Business by Fortune.

 Ranked 92nd in the list of “Most powerful women in Business by Forbes.
 Conferred with the “Banker of the Year Award” by Financial Express.

Professional Affiliations

Apart from being on the Board of ICICI Bank and various group companies, she is a member of
the Prime Minister's Council on Trade & Industry, US-India CEO Forum, Executive Board of the
Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, Member of the Board of Governors of Indian Council for
Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER), Member of the Managing Committee
of the Indian Banks Association and also a member of the Council of Scientific and Industrial
Research (CSIR) Society.
.
Kochhar strategy to keep ICICI on growth trends

 Things have changed quit dramatically for ICICI Bank which today has a asset size
of Rs.5.36 lakh crore up from Rs3.79 lakhcrore in 2008-09, when Kochhar took charge.
The proportion of low-cost current –account-saving account (CASA) deposits has grown
substantially from 28.7 per cent of total asset in 2008-09 to 43.3 per cent in 2012-13.
 The focus on better management of risk has led to a dramatic improvement in credit
quality and credit cost or the cost of provisions the bank makes against bad loans –
declined from 2.2 per cent of total asset to just 0.8 per cent in financial year 2012-13.
 A mixed strategy is followed, on one hand cost were being and high-cost deposits were
being shed. On the other , the branch network was being expanded. Internally ,from a
product centric model where segmentation was done on the basis of deposits, home
loans ,car loans and the like, the bank moved to customer segmentation.

Conclusion

Chanda Kochhar’s ability to manage such a huge organization and being it the best profits ever
keeping the employees highly contented is the most admiring quality about her. We have heard
that a leader is tested during critical times. It shows her decision making power. In year 1991
when country was dwindling under financial pressure from all corner, it was then the
concept of privatisation of bank was done. Her abilities in the financial sector were highly
appreciated in the company which got her a post of general manager in 1994. It makes this
person admired all around the nation. The HR communication qualities of a leader can be seen in
the manner she convinced the customers to use the services of privatized bank in the era.

Looking at the designation changes in Kochhar’s career , it become clear that she had to
manage different team at different times and also in quick succession. Being manager of so many
companies alone, and patting all of them at the apex in their respective fields also shows her
ability to manage parallel work functions. Finally one can admire Chanda Kochhar for the fact
that she has not inherited success. She has gone through all the phases of struggle before even
leading a single team. For her, many a times excelling at work meant giving up on her personal
priorities. “There were so many occasions when I wasn't around for my kids or my husband. But
we learnt to work around it.” said kochhar. In many ways her children have motivated too.