Shikha Sharma

This summer, following resignation rumors, Sharma was reappointed to serve another three-year term as the head of India’s Axis Bank. The announcement capped a tumultuous time for the private lender, India’s third largest, which has reported consistent drops in quarterly profits, and was the subject of acquisition rumors (reported interested buyers included ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank). Now that she has been reconfirmed as CEO, Sharma can focus on beefing up the bank’s digital services, which includes expanding its digital payments app’s reach. In July, she announced that Axis Bank had acquired Freecharge, a digital payments company.