Career Mantra: JBIMS alumna Chanda Kochhar takes over the leadership of ICICI Bank

She will take on the mantle from May 1, 2009 and in the process will succeed one of the countrys most admired CEOs -- Mr. K V Kamath.

A look at Ms Kochhars career path offers inspirations to bright budding managers. After completing her Bachelors Degree in Arts, she pursued her Masters Degree in Management Studies at the prestigious Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS). Post her MBA in finance she joined the erstwhile industrial finance company ICICI in 1984 as a management trainee - Project Appraisal & Monitoring and worked on projects in a wide gamut of industries. In 1993 she was deputed to ICICI bank as a part of the core team to set up operations and pave the way for its entry into the commercial banking business. By 1997 she was heading the large corporate clients group and in 2001, she went on to head the retail vertical too. She became a part of the top management at ICICI when she was promoted to the post of CFO in 2006 and finally made the Joint MD in 2007.

Her appointment comes at a time when the world is reeling under a financial crisis and India and its financial institutions are not fully decoupled from it. ICICI is going through a transitional phase itself as it faces the changing financial environment.
Ms. Kochhar joins a long list of alumni from JBIMS like Mr Harish Manwani, Mr. Nitin Paranjpe, Mr. Ajay Piramal, Mr. Uday Kotak, Ms. Vinita Bali and others who have made it to the top of the corporate world. Says JBIMS, As the world witnesses the changes, JBIMS keeps on supplying the catalysts who act as the change agents and in the process carve a niche out for themselves. As Ms. Kochhar envisages the future for ICICI, her vast experience spanning 24 years in the institution as well as her alma mater will be a strong guiding force.