Shikha Sharma (Banker)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Shikha Sharma

• Shikha Sharma is an Indian economist and banker, who served as the Managing Director and CEO of Axis Bank from 2009 to 2018.

• Sharma’s nine-year-long stint at Axis Bank made her the longest-serving woman CEO in the financial sector. ^[8]The Times of India

• Shikha’s father was a brigadier in the ordnance corps of the Indian Army and an ammunition expert who had fought two India-Pakistan wars in the past.

• Being an Army brat, Shikha attended almost 7 schools in different cities across the country before finishing her schooling at Loreto Convent in Delhi. ^[9]The Economic Times

• The former CEO revealed that Physics was her first choice for her bachelor’s; however, one of her uncles recommended her Economics at Lady Shri Ram College, which eventually made her the CEO of India’s third-largest private lender.

• The banker has also learned classical music along with her daughter, after being inspired by her mother-in-law.

• Shikha, the soft-spoken daughter of an Army officer, revealed in an interview that during the placement period after completing her MBA from IIM-A, she didn’t get placed till about 10 days, but ICICI gave her a break. ^[10]Business Today She said,
  

  Foreign banks rejected me. I was losing confidence. I was good at academics, but an introvert. I was self aware enough not to get dejected. But I still felt bad.”

• Shikha joined the ICICI group in 1980 and spent 29 years of her career there. She handled diverse functions including investment banking, retail finance businesses, and setting up personal services units and its insurance company. In 1992, she set up ICICI Securities – a joint venture of ICICI and J.P. Morgan. Eventually, she returned to the bank and took charge of ICICI Prudential Life Insurance as Managing Director and CEO in December 2000. ^[11]Forbes ^[12]Business Today

• Shikha left ICICI bank for Axis when Chanda Kochhar was announced to head ICICI Bank. ^[13]Business Standard

• During her initial years at the bank, Shikha worked under the mentorship of K.V. Kamath, CEO and MD of ICICI Bank, and Mark Tucker, the former CEO of Prudential Plc. and current Group Chairman of HSBC Holdings plc.

• In 1982, Shikha married her IIM-A batchmate, Sanjaya Sharma. The couple has two children together. Talking about her children, Mrs Sharma said in an interview, ^[14]Business Today
  

  I consider my children my most enduring embodiments of achievement. But I haven’t focused on them in the last 20 years. Too much was happening in the office.”

• Sharma succeeded P.J. Nayak at Axis Bank Ltd. in June 2009, when the former CEO quit before the end of his tenure. She was also the Chairperson of Axis Bank UK limited, Axis Asset Management Company Limited, Axis Private Equity Limited, and Axis Capital Limited. ^[15]Forbes ^[16]SugerMint While accepting one of her awards, Shikha said,
  

  One of the things about being a woman leader is that the world is dominated by male leaders, so you’re constantly being compared. You have to shut out certain things and not worry about them so that you’re effective at the job.”

• Shikha was instrumental in successfully transforming the third largest private sector bank in India with primarily corporate lending and retail liability portfolio, into a full-service, end-to-end financial institution focussed on sustained profitable growth. ^[17]Forbes

• Under her tenure, the gross NPAs of Axis bank rose from 0.96 per cent in March 2009 to 5.28 per cent in December 2017. ^[18]Deccan Chronicle

• Since 2015, Ms Sharma also chairs the confederation of Indian Industry (CII) National Committee on Banking, and she has remained a member of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Technical Advisory Committee. The high-profile banker was also a part of RBI’s panel on Financial Inclusion, the Committee on Comprehensive Financial Services for Small Businesses and Low-Income Households. She has also served as the Co-Chairperson of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and Banking and Financial Institutions Committee 2013-15. Shikha is also a member of Visa’s Senior Client Council, APCEMEA (Asia –Pacific, Central Europe, Middle East & Africa).  ^[19]World Economic Forum

• Sharma also sits as an independent director on the boards of Tech Mahindra, Tata Global Beverages, Ambuja Cement, and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. ^[20]The Times of India

• After being denied an extension of her fourth term by the RBI as the MD of Axis Bank, Shikha Sharma retired from her position on 31 December 2018, two-and-a-half years before her term was supposed to end. She demitted the office after proposing that her new term be reduced to seven months from a three-year tenure, which was accepted by the board. She was succeeded by Amitabh Chaudhry. ^[21]The Economic Times

• On 1 February 2019, within a month after leaving the Axis Bank, Shikha took over as the adviser for the global private equity giant KKR and Co. ^[22]Mint

• Next year, the ex-CEO of Axis Bank with more than three decades of work experience was appointed as an adviser by Google Pay India, the digital payment platform from Google. ^[23]Moneycontrol

  

• At the beginning of 2020, Shikha’s daughter Tvisha got hitched to Harsh Desai in a big fat wedding. The guest list comprised of corporate elites including Anand Mahindra, Amit Chandra, Zia Mody, Cyril Shroff, Ajay Piramal, Deepak Parekh, and N. Chandrasekaran, along with Sharma’s former ICICI colleagues Kalpana Morparia and K.V. Kamath. ^[24]The Economic Times