Women make inroads into the Indian businesses

28 November, 2011

Women in India don't limit their roles to just the domestic chores but they are proving their mettle in various business. Fortune magazines has ratified it by releasing a list of powerful Indian..

RECENTLY I went through a very interesting ranking list by Fortune Magazine (USA) because for the first time Fortune in its 80-year-old history released the list of “India’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business”. This list is not just interesting but it is also very important and this is because Fortune Magazine is known across the globe for releasing various ranking lists like “Fortune 500” list (USA Top 500 Public Companies) or “40 under 40” list (World’s 40 most powerful people under the age of 40) etc. These ranking lists tell us about the people, the companies who are most powerful in various nations and in multiple walks of life. Being part of this list is not only considered as a positive gesture but is also considered as a great recognition of your work and the power you carry with yourself in the 21st Century.

Now when Fortune releases list of India’s 50 Most Powerful Women in Business what does it tells us? It tells us that Indian Women have certainly walked into a new era of women empowerment where not only are they influencing their life or family life but they are also influencing the world around them and they are also shaping up the future of India. That the list has come up only establishes the fact that women in India cannot be ignored anymore as they are certainly contributing towards the economy. This list is a certification of sorts which proudly says that not only the fairer sex is ruling the Indian Business but there is also a healthy competition among Indian business women which has resulted in a proud powerful ranking list of Indian business women.

Gone are the times when Indian women were forced to stay at home and do only domestic chores. Women certainly love to get involved in domestic chores but they are not just limited to that now anymore. They want education and the jobs so that they can play an equal role in supporting their families. A woman wants to contribute to the society in a much larger way and she is doing that not just in one or two sectors but almost all of them.

If we go through this list we will see that ICICI Bank chief executive Chanda Kochhar has been named as the most powerful woman in Indian business followed by Axis Bank MD and chief executive officer (CEO) Shikha Sharma, TAFE chairperson Mallika Srinivasan is ranked third. Capgemini India CEO Aruan Jayanthi at fourth & AZB Partners cofounder Zia Mody at fifth. HT Media chairperson and editorial director Shobhana Bhartia, National Stock Exchange (NSE) joint managing director Chitra Ramakrishna, Mazumdar and RIM India's former MD Frenny Bawa are all part of this list. Even Television Queen Ekta Kapoor and Filmmaker Farah Khan, apart from VLCC founder Vandana Luthra and veteran designer Ritu Kumar, feature in Fortune India's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business list.

It is not just one or two sectors where women are at the top but in all sectors and industries. Be it Banking, Manufacturing, FMCG, Entertainment or even Information Technology, women are there and they are at the top of the game and are deciding how these industries should shape up in the future.

The Top 50 Powerful Women List by World Renowned Fortune Magazine is a sign of where Indian Women stands today. Not only women are being recognized but they are also creating the future. The lesson for rest of us is no matter which field you are in, there is very fine chance now that in future you will probably be at the top and hence you should never give up. Time has come for Indian women to prepare themselves for bigger roles, not limited to India but across the whole world.