ET businesswomen of the year

2009
Shikha sharma
Educational Background
 An alumnus of the Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad, and a post-
graduate diploma-holder in software
technology from the National Centre for
Software Technology, Mumbai, Ms Sharma
typifies the new breed of professionals who
have helped create Indian multinationals

Being a soldier’s daughter Sharma changed

seven schools in as many cities, finally
finishing at Loreto Convent, Delhi.
Reasons to win the coveted
title
 The jury praised her
role in building ICICI
Prudential, the
second-largest life
insurance company
after LIC and as a
professional who has
achieved all this
without being a
promoter .
 Overview
 ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company is a joint venture
between ICICI Bank - one of India's foremost financial services
companies-and Prudential plc - a leading international financial
services group headquartered in the United Kingdom. Total
capital infusion stands at Rs. 47.80 billion, with ICICI Bank
holding a stake of 74% and Prudential plc holding 26%.
 
They began their operations in December 2000 after receiving
approval from Insurance Regulatory Development Authority
(IRDA). Today their nation-wide reach includes over 1,900
branches (inclusive of 1,074 micro-offices), over 210,000
advisors; and 7 bancassurance partners.
 
For three years in a row, ICICI Prudential has been voted as
India's Most Trusted Private Life Insurer, by The Economic
Times - AC Nielsen ORG Marg survey of 'Most Trusted Brands'.
 Vision

 Leveraging technology to service customers

quickly, efficiently and conveniently

 Developing and implementing superior risk

management and investment strategies to offer
sustainable and stable returns to our policyholders

 Understanding the needs of customers and offering

them superior products and service

 Providing an enabling environment to foster growth

and learning for our employees and transparency in
dealings.
 Work record
Ms Sharma, who has a track record of
successfully setting up greenfield ventures,
began her career with ICICI, the financial
institution, in 1980. She was soon involved in
setting up I-Sec. Later she helped set up
ICICI’s personal financial services business,
including retail deposits, retail credit, credit
cards and web trade activities, which later
paved the way for ICICI’s conversion into a
bank.
Health insurance
 Ms Sharma has also undertaken several
initiatives on the health insurance side,
making ICICI Pru the largest health
insurer in the life insurance industry
with over 70% of the premium
generated in the sector. It is also an
innovator in this segment, having
launched disease-specific products
On becoming the ceo of axis bank

 About 29 years with ICICI group, eight years

building India’s largest insurance company,
and now you are headed out of the group. How
does it feel?
“ Very tough, because for 29 years I have lived ICICI,
breathed ICICI, and whatever I have managed to do
in my professional career is thanks to ICICI. So, I
have to admit that I have got very mixed feelings
right now. It is all very sudden, so I can’t even figure
out what my feelings are. But yes it is going to be sad
to leave the group. At the same time, I think the new
opportunity is a great one’’
Ethics and attitude
 Her brush with succession issues,
however, doesn't end quite as soon.
While the first ended with her quitting
ICICI Bank, the second led to her
predecessor at Axis leaving in a huff.
Question her on this and the answer is:
"Life is a mirror. If you go on expecting
negativity, you will find negativity.
 Values
 She reached the venue of a meeting good 15
minutes ahead of the appointed hour, alone, without
the customary corporate hangers-on, a rarity for a
busy Indian CEO. But with a disciplined army kid
upbringing and a father who would “be unhappy if I
came second in the class,” Shikha Sharma has never
known pampering, at least not the sort that comes
with being a first-born, a girl or a CEO now.
“Being the first child, I bore all the expectations of
my father. He never treated me as a girl. I was
supposed to do as well as my (younger) brothers.
The pressure was equal on all the three’’
 Clarity of thought and
direction
 Sharma joined when it was still just a development financial
institution, back in 1980 straight out of IIM-Ahmedabad. “I was
clear that I wanted to be in finance, as I was good at maths and
quantitative (stuff). Actually, at school I was best at physics and
wanted to be a physics researcher.” As it turned out, a bureaucrat
uncle of Sharma’s guided her towards Economics at Lady Shriram
College, as he said that physics wouldn’t land her a job.

“I hadn’t even heard of IIM before I went into my BA. Somewhere

in the middle I decided that I was either going to go to the IIMs or
get married. I was not going to do anything else.” It turned out, she
also met her would-be husband, Sanjaya Sharma there as he’s her
batchmate at IIM-A class of 1980’’
 New avenues in business

 Being a soldier’s daughter, Sharma changed seven schools in as many cities, finally
finishing at Loreto Convent, Delhi. “Looking back, I realise I have this three-year
mindset for everything.” Though she has stuck to her first employer for 28 years now,
Sharma says she’s somehow had three-year stints in various ICICI departments —
project finance, corporate planning, retail finance and securities.
But she seems to have broken that three-year rule with life insurance, where she has
been the head since inception in 2000. “Well yes, but even here, I have looked at the
business in three-year cycles,” she avers. “So probably a three-year cycle is
(hardwired) in my brain.”
Sharma says that the two big things ICICI Pru’s focusing on in the current three-year
period are health and the rural market. “Rural is a little bit of an extension for
business but it requires a different delivery so we are working on the technology and
processes. Health is pretty much a white canvas. What is the right model for India? Is
it advice? Is it wellness? That’s the thing that consumes me and excites me
(currently). The organisation needs to come up with something quickly, honestly the
desire to be at the top existed at the time I joined
Maintaining a balance between
personal life and professional life
 Sharma agrees that a lot of talented women do leave
after becoming mothers, but says if one can engage
them and pull them back, they can cope.
 "The first two-three years after becoming a mother
are the toughest," she says, recollecting how her
heart would sink at the thought of leaving her child
at home.
 "Even if you are doing really well at work, but feel
you are not a good mother, the guilt can shatter
you," she says. But Sharma was lucky to have a
"terrific" support system at home - a reason why she
has been able to maintain a 12-hour work routine
and give her best to the job.
Thank you