Friday, November 23, 2007

Naina Lal Kidwai-Banking power woman


Naina Lal Kidwai (born 1957) was the first Indian woman to graduate from the Harvard Business School. As of 2006, she is the Chief Executive Officer of The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation India branches.
Fortune magazine listed Kidwai among the World's Top 50 Corporate Women from 2000 to 2003. According to the Economic Times, she is the first woman to head the operations of a foreign bank in India.
Naina Lal Kidwai is currently the Group General Manager and Country Head of HSBC India. She has been awarded with Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian honours bestowed by the Government of India. The announcement was made by Rashtrapati Bhawan on 26 Jan 2007.
Naina has got the honour for her exemplary work in the promotion of Trade and Industry.
Contrary to what most people believe, Naina Lal is not a chartered accountant. She only trained for her chartered accountancy with Price Waterhouse but then dropped out to pursue an MBA at Harvard instead. Her mother is the industrialist Lalit Mohan Thapar's sister and her cousin, Gautam Thapar currently manages Ballarpur Industries Ltd, one of the largest manufacturers of paper in the country.
She began her career in banking with ANZ Grindlays Bank (acquired by Standard Chartered bank in 2000)and then moved on to head the Indian operations of Morgan Stanley. She left Morgan Stanley in 2002 to join HSBC India as head of its investment banking business. In May 2005, she was named country head of the HSBC Group in India.
Naina is married to Rashid Kidwai who runs the NGO, Digital Partners.

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