Shikha Sharma

Hired in 2009 to run India’s third largest private sector bank by assets, Sharma has grown Axis from an underrepresented bank to the nation’s fastest growing private sector lender, with revenue up 15% to $7.9 billion in 2015 and nearly 3000 branches across 1,800 cities and towns. First quarter profit this year was hurt by a spike in bad loans, but Sharma deserves accolades for publicizing a “watch list” she created to monitor 4% of the bank’s potentially-troubled assets. In May, she issued a $500 million green bond at the London Stock Exchange—Asia’s first such certified bond in support of green energy and environmentally friendly projects. It was oversubscribed twice.