Chanda Kochhar- A woman who sees opportunities in challenges.

Saddled with a contemporary methodology borrowed from the twenty first century factualism, scientism and historical relativism, Chanda Kochhar proved it all by her fine administrative acumen and her cool prudence.
Born on November 17, 1961 in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree from Jai Hind College, Mumbai. Later, she joined the Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies for the Masters Degree in Management Studies and then possessed a degree in cost and works accountancy from the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India (ICWA). She is blessed with two children, a son and a daughter.

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A person who can take on a challenge and maintain
equanimity
and turn
into an
opportunity
is the biggest
leader.

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Chanda Kochhar joined ICICI as a Management trainee after her Masters in the year 1984. After 9 years of hard work, Kochhar was appointed as part of core team to set the ICICI bank. She got promotion in 1994 & 1996 as Assistant General Manager and then Deputy General Manager respectively. In 1998, she was promoted as the General Manager with the role of handling relationships with ICICI`s top 200 clients. In April 2001, she was promoted as Executive Director, heading the retail business in ICICI Bank. In April 2006, Chanda Kochhar was appointed as Deputy Managing Director of ICICI Bank.
She has taken over from KV Kamath as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director (MD) of the bank on May 1, 2009 with the package of Rupees 2,24,4000/-per annum. ICICI Bank named Chanda Kochhar as its new chief executive from May 1, 09 to lead India’s second-largest lender at a time of declining market share, souring bad debts and a tough global environment.
“Efficiency” is the capacity in an individual to funnel out his/her available “competency” into the field of action. The intelligent preparedness is called “competency”, and this is to reach ultimately the field of our action, to be expressed as “efficiency”. Mental discipline is the secret of all efficiency, the conduit of poised competency and Ms. Chanda Kochhar is no exception to this and it clearly evinces out by she being awarded as ‘Women of Excellence’ by the women’s wing of the Federation of India Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI). Twenty-five women, including Kochhar, HSBC country head Naina Lal Kidwai, Kinetic Engineering Managing Director Sulajja Firodia Motwani, actress Sharmila Tagore and Kathak exponent Shovana Narayan, have been honored with this award.
She with full dexterity has handled her profiles as Joint Managing Director (JMD) of ICICI Bank, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and the official spokesperson & head of the Corporate Centre of ICICI Bank.
India’s top private sector lender, which has a market capitalization of $11.1 billion, lost 62 per cent of its market value in the year 2008 as a result of its exposure overseas at a time of turmoil in the global financial system.
Kochhar’s credibility and unflinching faith towards ICICI is quite realized and comprehended by the members of the board of ICICI as they expressed the view that, “Kochhar’s deep experience across the bank’s businesses would be invaluable in providing stability while at the same time charting the bank’s future in the emerging global environment,”
Since ICICI Bank had the largest exposure among Indian banks to the global financial crisis its shares fell by about 28 percent in September- October 08 when Lehman Brothers collapsed.
As the Lehman shock reverberated around markets the world over, both Kamath and Kochhar repeatedly assured investors and depositors that ICICI was safe and well capitalized, and its share price has now recovered 68 per cent from its October low.
Kochhar sees an opportunity in a challenge. A versatile woman, who developed multi skilled excellence by performing multitasking which is the need of the hour and by mobilizing her dynamism in the right directions to get the right output, Kochhar has a whole lot of accolades attached to her name.
Under Kochhar`s leadership, ICICI Bank won the Best Retail Bank in India award in 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Kochhar personally was awarded Retail Banker of the Year 2004 (Asia-Pacific region) by the Asian Banker, Business Woman of the Year 2005 by The Economic Times and Rising Star Award for Global Awards 2006 by Retail Banker International. Kochhar has also consistently figured in Fortune`s list of most powerful women in Business since 2005. She climbed up the list debuting with the 47th position in 2005, moving up 10 spots to 37 in 2006 and then to 33 in 2007. In the 2008 list, Kochhar features at the 25th spot.
Constant challenges have helped Kochhar to develop and adapt herself to 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 completely reinvent herself. But every move fed on the previous one. When she moved from corporate to consumer banking, she brought a lot of synergy with her. When she moved from consumer banking to international banking, she brought a lot of insights from India which could be implemented globally. Now that she has moved to the supervisory role, having run all the businesses, she is able to appreciate the challenges of a business in a much more rational manner. So, adaptability was a big challenge for her personally, but this opportunity to handle all sides of the bank – globally is a rare one which comes to rare people, who are ready to work with pure honesty, sincerity and perseverance.
On the make over of the bank, she appears optimistic and is quite confident about it’s robust growth cycle ahead. “The pressure that was on us, especially during October-November 08 period, I think that period is behind us and we are seeing the confidence of depositors coming back. Deposits are growing, new customers are opening accounts, existing customers are putting back their deposits. I want to be very important player in infrastructure financing and in car loans, but one-year numbers here or there would not make any difference. I’m confident that we are going to be important players in all the 3-4 businesses that I’m taking about.” Anticipating a growth rate of 24-25% in focused business areas like housing, corporate and car loans, Ms Kochhar said that the overall growth in its balance sheet could, however, be below 20% in the current fiscal as the full impact of shift in focus areas would not be visible now.
According to her, challenges are a way to success. A diamond in a raw form doesn’t give a dazzling shine but when cut, shaped, finished and processed, the brilliance it emits out is incomparable and unmatched. One must fine tune oneself so much so that a way to success automatically opines before an individual just like that of Chanda Kochhar.