Executive Recruiters Eye ICICI CEO Chandra Kochhar
Fortune magazine recently published their annual list of the 50 most powerful women domestically and abroad. The Managing Director and CEO of India's ICICI Bank, Chanda Kochhar, made the international list at number five and for good reason.
Fortune described the woman being targeted by executive recruiters the world over as someone who is drastically "transforming ICICI with conservative lending and tactical cost cutting." Despite her conservative nature, though, she is seen as "wildly ambitious."
Her rise to prominence started back in 2008. Kochhar, then serving as CFO at ICICI, caught her superiors off guard by insisting that a dramatic change in strategy be rolled out. The idea was to provide the rapidly-growing financial institute with a short term makeover that would cut back on its enthusiastic, powerful public image. ICICI would instead be seen as a calculating tortoise rather than a speedy, carefree hare. The other executives balked.
They were demanding budget increases of 30% to match the firm's explosive growth. How did Kochhar respond? "If we increase expenses 30%, we won't have a bank to run. There's no purpose continuing with this meeting. Come back when you freeze your budgets at exactly the same numbers as last year, to the rupee," she stated.
Yet the woman that executive recruiters would soon turn their attention to got what she wanted and it turned out to be an ingenious move. Kochhar was promoted to CEO in 2009 and she navigated the bank through the horrendous crisis that sunk rivals the world over.
Today ICICI is showing resilient growth patterns in its home nation. The window of time turned out to be ideal for the company, because the middle class is bulging. Consumers are in need of mortgages, checking accounts and credit cards in record numbers as a result.
Kochhar, who cites her mother as a powerful role model, is now setting her sights even higher: she wants ICICI to be one of the world's top 20 banks within 10 years. She'll need to increase its $90 billion in assets 15 times over to get there, but few doubt her ingenuity and resiliency. Don't be surprised if ICICI becomes a household name within a decade.
Fortune described the woman being targeted by executive recruiters the world over as someone who is drastically "transforming ICICI with conservative lending and tactical cost cutting." Despite her conservative nature, though, she is seen as "wildly ambitious."
Her rise to prominence started back in 2008. Kochhar, then serving as CFO at ICICI, caught her superiors off guard by insisting that a dramatic change in strategy be rolled out. The idea was to provide the rapidly-growing financial institute with a short term makeover that would cut back on its enthusiastic, powerful public image. ICICI would instead be seen as a calculating tortoise rather than a speedy, carefree hare. The other executives balked.
They were demanding budget increases of 30% to match the firm's explosive growth. How did Kochhar respond? "If we increase expenses 30%, we won't have a bank to run. There's no purpose continuing with this meeting. Come back when you freeze your budgets at exactly the same numbers as last year, to the rupee," she stated.
Yet the woman that executive recruiters would soon turn their attention to got what she wanted and it turned out to be an ingenious move. Kochhar was promoted to CEO in 2009 and she navigated the bank through the horrendous crisis that sunk rivals the world over.
Today ICICI is showing resilient growth patterns in its home nation. The window of time turned out to be ideal for the company, because the middle class is bulging. Consumers are in need of mortgages, checking accounts and credit cards in record numbers as a result.
Kochhar, who cites her mother as a powerful role model, is now setting her sights even higher: she wants ICICI to be one of the world's top 20 banks within 10 years. She'll need to increase its $90 billion in assets 15 times over to get there, but few doubt her ingenuity and resiliency. Don't be surprised if ICICI becomes a household name within a decade.