Just like the rest of the world, India has witnessed a very challenging year and a half. With the pandemic spread all over, the country has managed to cope up with the medical needs and ensure that we come out stronger together.
Not just the Indian government, many Indian industrialists have had a huge contribution in ensuring that all medical needs were met. Fortune India has issued the names of the 50 most powerful women who have had a huge impact on the country’s welfare. Here are the top 10 names from the list.
Nirmala Sitharaman
Nirmala Sitharaman is a member of the Rajya Sabha and is serving as the current Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs of India. The jury for Fortune India’s Most Powerful Women awards was impressed with the far-reaching impact of Sitharaman’s immediate initiatives on the vast majority of Indians post the pandemic.
Nita Ambani
Nita Ambani is the chairperson and founder of the Reliance Foundation, Dhirubhai Ambani International School, and a director of Reliance Industries.
When the pandemic first hit India in 2020, she set up India’s first dedicated 250-bed Covid-19 treatment facility in Mumbai in association with the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Soumya Swaminathan
Soumya Swaminathan is an Indian pediatrician and clinical scientist known for her research on tuberculosis and HIV. Fortune India states that while Swaminathan is not from the world of business, her actions mean business as they have been influencing economic outcomes and, more importantly, saving lives.
Kiran Mazumdar
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw is the executive chairperson and founder of Biocon Limited and Biocon Biologics Limited, a biotechnology company based in Bangalore, India.
Shaw orchestrated a strategic long-term collaboration with Serum Institute Life Sciences (SILS). For a 15% stake in SILS for $700 million, Biocon Biologics, a subsidiary of Biocon, will have access to 100 million doses of vaccines annually for 15 years and commercialization rights of the SILS’ vaccine portfolio for global markets.
Suchitra Ella
Suchitra Ella is the Joint Managing Director of Bharat Biotech, which she co-founded with Dr. Ella in 1996. With experience in customer operations, finance, marketing, and business development, Mrs. Ella is a strong pillar of support and guidance at Bharat, overseeing a wide range of operations in the company.
Arundhati Bhattacharya
Arundhati Bhattacharya is a retired Indian banker and former Chairperson of the State Bank of India. She is the first woman to be the Chairperson of the State Bank of India. After retirement, Arundhati took over as the India CEO of Salesforce, the $21-billion global SaaS giant, at the peak of the pandemic.
Gita Gopinath
Gita Gopinath has been serving as the Chief Economist of the International Monetary Fund since 2019. Gopinath’s prescriptions to overcome the economic perils of the pandemic are much sought after by academics as well as governments.
Tessy Thomas
Tessy Thomas is the Director-General of Aeronautical Systems and the former Project Director for Agni-IV missile in Defence Research and Development Organisation. She is the first-ever woman scientist to head a missile project in India.
Rekha M Menon
Chairperson and Senior Managing Director of Accenture in India & Chairperson – NASSCOM and a member of the National Council of CII, and USIBC’s India Advisory Council.
Reddy Sisters
Preetha, Shobana, Suneeta, and Sangita—the daughters of Apollo Hospital Group’s founder chairman Dr. Prathap C. Reddy, are in charge of India’s largest private healthcare chain. Led the group’s 67,000 employees, the company joined the country’s fight against Covid-19.
