10 Powerful Indian Women Who Changed the Financial Industry in 2024

Updated On : May 2024

Indian women are leading the financial landscape that is always shifting and have been rewriting what it means to be successful. A few astonishing groups of women have not only shattered the glass ceiling but have left an indelible mark on the sector.

The names that we have mentioned in this article are the spearheads of major financial institutions and have evoked an undeviating quest for excellence. As we look into the achievements of these remarkable women, we are given a glimpse of the power of breaking traditions, overcoming the odds, and changing what was once thought to be unchangeable.

Here is the list of the top 10 powerful women who have changed the financial industry in 2024:

1. Vibha Padalkar

Vibha Padalkar heads HDFC Life as its Managing Director and CEO. Under her leadership, the company doubled its performance in every key parameter and managed an AUM of Rs 2.4 trillion in the financial year 2023. She also spearheaded the first merger and acquisition in the Indian life insurance industry in 2023. Padalkar joined the company in 2008, and prior to taking over as MD & CEO in 2018, she was the ED & CFO and was key to HDFC Life being successfully listed in 2017. She is also a member of the Life Insurance Council’s Executive Committee (EC).

Padalkar became a qualified member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales in 1992 and also holds membership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She was honored as “CA Business Leader for Large Corporates—BFSI” at the 15th ICAI Awards by The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. She has also made it to the list of “Top 30 Most Powerful Women in Business” by Business Today for six years in a row—from 2018 to 2023; Fortune India’s “Most Powerful Women in Business” list for 2021, 2022, and 2023; Business World’s list of “Most Valuable CEOs" for 2022 and 2023; and their “Most Influential Women in Business” for 2022.

2. Renu Sud Karnad

Renu Sud Karnad put an end to the old-style way of doing things by transforming HDFC Ltd. The Managing Director was crucial to building a robust retail distribution system and developing innovative products and services that changed the face of housing finance in India. Her unwavering commitment to customer-centric solutions and steadfast championing of digital transformation have placed HDFC in a leading position within the industry.

Her leadership extends beyond the boundaries of her own organization and into other board memberships, such as GlaxoSmithKline Pharmaceuticals and Bangalore International Airport Ltd. With over 40 years of association with the real estate and mortgage industry in India, she brings a wealth of experience and extensive knowledge to her role.

She also serves on the boards of several group companies, including HDFC Bank Ltd., HDFC Asset Management Company Limited, HDFC Ergo General Insurance Company Limited, and HDFC Life Insurance Company Limited. Over the years, Karnad has had, to her credit, numerous awards and accolades. She has been featured in the list of ‘25 top non-banking women in finance’ by U.S. Banker magazine, which recognized her as one of Asia’s ‘Top Ten Powerful Women to Watch Out for,’ according to Wall Street Journal Asia. ‘Outstanding Woman Business Leader’ by CNBC-TV18 and ‘25 Most Influential Women Professionals in India’ by India Today. She is currently the Chairperson and Independent Director of the Board with PayU Payments.

3. Shanti Ekambaram

Shanti Ekambaram was the President of Corporate and Investment Banking for 11 years at Kotak Mahindra Bank, where she was responsible for ensuring the delivery of comprehensive advisory and financial solutions to leading Indian corporates, public sector undertakings, financial institutions, and multinationals.

She is part of the banker’s management committee that oversees the Kotak Mahindra Group’s businesses. Shanti has been associated with the business for over 26 years and has been responsible for setting up and successfully running several business units. She was also the Executive Director and CEO of Kotak Investment Banking earlier. Along with her team, she steered the firm to a position of market leadership and built a franchise widely recognized for hostilely taking on market leadership with a series of innovative deals. Their first book-built IPO in India set new benchmarks and introduced global standards to the Indian capital markets.

She has rich and varied experience in investment banking, including capital markets, fixed-income government securities business, corporate banking, including working capital and project financing, transaction banking services, and treasury products. Business Today, one of India’s leading business magazines, has recognized her as one of the ‘Most Powerful Women in Indian Business’ for three years in a row: 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. In 2016, Fortune India named her one of the 'top 50 Most Powerful Women in India. Shanti was also awarded the ‘CA Women Business Leader’ of the year 2013. Further, the Indian Merchants Chamber’s Ladies Wing recognized her as ‘Woman of the Year 2013-14’ in Banking and Financial Services. Ekambaram has been appointed as the Deputy MD of Kotak Mahindra Bank in March 2024.

4. Upasana Rupkrishan Taku

Upasana Rupkrishan Taku is the Executive Director, Co-Founder and COO at MobiKwik. She founded MobiKwik with the thought of altering India's landscape of digital payments. She believes that by 2025, the Indian fintech opportunity will represent a minimum of $1 trillion and MobiKwik is going to play a significant part in that. Taku has a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from Punjab Technical University and a Management Science and Engineering master’s degree from Stanford University. She carries 17 years of experience in product, payments and financial services. Before starting MobiKwik, she worked as a Product Manager at PayPal, San Jose in both the Financial Services and Global Payments divisions as well as in Risk Management. She then went on to become a member of the Product team for HSBC’s auto finance division in San Diego.

She has always been passionate about effecting change at the grassroot levels. This brought her back to India from the U.S. in 2008. Now her hard work and wish to serve the community have made her not only one of India's top entrepreneurs but also an inspirational figure. In 2018, she received honour from the President of India as “The First woman to lead a Payments Start-up”. In 2019, she featured in Forbes Asia's “Power Businesswomen list of 25 accomplished women shaping Asia's business landscape and in the “Kotak Wealth Hurun – Leading Wealthy Women” list, ranking as India's 12th self- made woman in 2020.

5. A. Manimekhalai

A. Manimekhalai, a seasoned banker currently serving Union Bank as Managing Director and CEO, has more than three decades of experience. She started her career with the erstwhile Vijaya Bank as an officer in 1988, reaching successive positions working as branch head, regional head, and functional head of various departments at the bank. She has been instrumental in devising and implementing strategic policies, covering core areas like strategic planning, setting organizational goals, growth strategies, action plans, compliance, internal control, etc. Before joining Union Bank of India, she was with Canara Bank as Executive Director. During her stint at the bank, she was in charge of strategic planning, credit and related matters, inspection and audit, marketing and financial inclusion, state-level lead bank responsibilities, and administration of regional rural banks as a part of the magisterial committee, successfully amalgamating Canara Bank with Syndicate Bank.

Manimekhalai has served on the boards of other companies such as Canbank Factors Ltd., Canbank Computer Services Ltd., General Insurance Corporation of India., India Infrastructure Finance Company Ltd., and as Trustee, Canara Robeco Asset Management Co. Currently, she is Chairperson of the Union Bank of India (U.K.) Ltd. and Director on the Board of Union Asset Management Co. and India Infrastructure Finance Co. She is also a member of various committees and working groups constituted by the Government of India, drawing the future road map for the RRBs, focusing on financial inclusion, agriculture value-chain finance, banking correspondent issues, and creating synergies for the seamless flow of credit to health care and education.

6. Vishakha RM

Since March 2015, Vishakha RM has been at the helm of IndiaFirst Life as its MD and CEO. With her strong leadership, the company has shown a significant growth rate and steadily climbed up the industry rankings. Leading from the front, Vishakha also managed the seamless handover of legal and general shareholdings to Warburg Pincus in 2019. She has been named “Dynamic Women Leaders in India” (2022), “Powerful Women Leaders in the BFSI sector” (2021) by ET-BFSI.com, “Most Powerful Women” (2022) by Business Today, and won the “CEO of the Year” award at Campaign India's Women Leading Change 2022.

Vishakha has also figured three consecutive times in Fortune India’s “Top 50 Most Powerful Women"—2017, 2018, and 2019. She was similarly honored by Business World magazine as their “Most Influential Woman." In 2017, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) honored her with the prestigious “CA Business Leader—Women” award. During her tenure, IndiaFirst Life has been recognized by the Great Place to Work Institute (India) as one of India's Best Workplaces in BFSI three times in a row and also as one of India's Best 100 Companies to Work for in 2021. This organization successively ranked Life Insurance Company of the Year in the India Insurance Summit 2022 and won the Economic Times Best Brands 2021 award under her leadership.

Vishakha continues to mentor and nurture the future generation of thought leaders and business leaders. She has mentored for prestigious organizations such as the International Insurance Society (IIS) Mentor Program, the WWB Leadership and Diversity for Innovation Program, RGA Leaders for Tomorrow, and the WILL Forum. In addition to such mentorship roles, she also actively contributes at Exqualifi by AIWMI as a Charter Member. Education-wise, she is a Chartered Accountant equipped with a postgraduate diploma in computer systems and a Fellow of the Insurance Institute of India.

7. Madhabi Puri Buch

Madhabi Puri Buch, the chairperson of SEBI, has a unique professional background. She started her career in 1989 at ICICI Bank and has held numerous positions in a variety of companies over the past the past 12 years, primarily focusing on sales, marketing, and product development. Buch also trained as a lecturer at West Cheshire College, taught there for two years, and then headed ICICI’s marketing function. In 2006, she joined ICICI Securities, remaining there for the next five years as a Managing Director and CEO.

In 2011, she traveled to Singapore, where she worked for Greater Pacific Capital Company. Over the next 6 years, she held several positions as an executive director at Zansar Technologies, Innoven Capital, and Max Healthcare. Her achievements across multiple domains significantly enrich her professional history.

She was appointed chairperson of the securities regulatory body SEBI, one of the leading organizations in the industry. Her extensive experience contributed to her skillset, flexibility, and adaptability to various roles, and the industry appears to hold her in high regard.

8. Zarin Daruwala

As Standard Chartered Bank's CEO for India, Zarin Daruwala has brought customer service relentlessly into the spotlight and transformed it digitally. Under her guidance, the bank has aligned itself with ever-changing customer needs and an increasingly diversified clientele, promoting financial inclusion and empowering people as a whole.

She has held important posts in finance and government entities, using her rare combination of skills to steer through the complex legal and market landscape.

9. Shanai Ghosh

Shanai Ghosh has over 20 years of experience in financial services and insurance. She has worked in operations, service, distribution, marketing, and analytics. Having worked in both start-ups and large, stable companies, she has accurate knowledge of the workings of corporate firms. Ghosh is a graduate of St. Stephens College, University of Delhi (1992–1995), majoring in mathematics, and has an MBA from IIM Bangalore (1995–1997). She first served as a manager at City Bank (1997–2002), followed by a stint at Tata AIG Life Insurance as a Senior Manager and Chief Strategy Officer of Reliance Nippon Life Insurance and AU Small Finance, and is now the Managing Director and CEO of Zuno General Insurance.

10. Praveena Rai

Praveena Rai has more than 20 years of extensive experience, including specific roles in payments, cards, retail, transactions, wholesale, and commercial banking. She currently holds the position of Chief Operating Officer at NPCI. She has been formulating and implementing marketing, product management, and operations strategies in line with NPCI's overall strategic objectives of making the consumer experience simple, secure, and seamless.

Rai has pushed greater product penetration, reach, and visibility for NPCI's offerings by building appropriate partnerships. Before joining NPCI, she led the cash management portfolio of Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited. Prior to that, she managed payments for Asia Pacific and was Head of Sales at HSBC, where she provided solutions to global banking groups and SME’s in both Asia and India. She holds a bachelor’s degree in electronics and communication and has a postgraduate diploma from IIM Ahmedabad.

As the financial world evolves and changes its shape, driven by technological advancements and evolving consumer preferences, these titans of finance are the custodians of sheer resilience. Their unwavering determination to succeed, as well as the flexibility and innovative thinking that they bring in order to meet ever-changing market demands, make them predestined agents of further advancement and progress.

More than their professional accomplishments, these women have been champions of diversity and inclusion and advocates for equal opportunities and empowerment in corporate society. As such, their status as leaders of prestigious institutions is living proof that leadership has no gender; real success is not measured in job titles but rather by one's impact on society.

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