Every year, March 8 is celebrated as International Women's Day to celebrate women, their rights, and, most importantly, their achievements. According to the International Women's Day website, it's a global day to celebrate the "social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women". That's not all. It's also a day to remind the world of the need for accelerating women's equality.

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The day is being celebrated for over a century now and it has its roots in the Labour Movement. To celebrate the day, we list out 10 businesswomen for their great business acumen, achievements, and contributions to India as a nation. According to Fortune India 2020, the following are the top 10 businesswomen in the country:

Nita Ambani:

Referred to as the first lady of India Inc., Nita Ambani has tasted success in almost every project she has helmed. Her biggest success is the Indian Premier League Franchise Mumbai Indians, already a five-time champion, valued at over Rs 800 crore as of 2019.

Zia Mody: Zia Mody remains one of the leading minds in the field of corporate law. Her firm AZB & Partners was the legal representative for Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) while it raised $20 billion in FDI for its digital services company, Jio Platforms. The AZB & Partners have also worked on the restructuring of the troubled YES Bank.

Kiran Mazumdar Shaw: Arguably the most famous woman name in India Inc. is that of Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, the Executive Chairperson of Biocon. Her companies, Biocon and Syngene, made valuable contributions to addressing the fallout of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Suneeta Reddy: Suneeta Reddy is the Managing Director of Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, India's biggest chain of hospitals, which was at the forefront of India's battle against the COVID-19. The gross revenue of Apollo Hospitals touched Rs 10,000 crore for FY19-20.

Renu Sood Karnad: Renu Sood is the Managing Director of Housing Development Finance Corporation (HDFC). Like every other sector, real estate, too, suffered massively due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the leadership of Renu, the HDFC shifted its focus to affordable housing in tier-2 towns and below by amplifying the benefits of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) scheme and helped almost 1 lakh families under the scheme.

Samina Hamied: Samina Hamied is the Executive vice-chairperson of the Rs 17,000-crore pharmaceutical major, Cipla, which introduced antivirals remdesivir and favipiravir, and the immunosuppressive drug tocilizumab, for the treatment of the COVID-19. The company ensured there was fair and equitable access to these drugs across the country, despite varying state-wise lockdown restrictions.

Vinita Gupta: Vinita is the CEO of Lupin, a Mumbai-based multinational pharmaceutical company, which has emerged as the third-largest generic pharmaceuticals company in the US, delivering over 17 billion doses of medication per year. Interestingly, it was Vinita who was tasked with expanding the company to the US in the early 2000s.

Kalli Purie: Kalli Purie was appointed the vice-chairperson in 2017 of the India Today Group, one of the largest media conglomerates in the country. Kalli has presided over the growth across TV and print media. Under her leadership, AajTak, the group's Hindi news channel, tops the list for gross news consumption and the percentage of unique users. She has been particularly instrumental in taking the group's digital reach to new highs.

Ashu Suyash: Ashu Suyash is the managing director and CEO of CRISIL, a company that specialises in areas of risk identification, classification, and assessment, across a broad spectrum of industries. According to Suyash, “agility, rigour, and accountability towards stakeholders” are some of the qualities helping CRISIL stay resilient and relevant in volatile markets. During the lockdown, her company launched the ‘10K Meals Project’ to serve meals to migrant workers and served over 500,000 meals across 15 locations in Mumbai.

Roshni Nadar Malhotra: In July 2019, Roshni, the only child of HCL founder Shiv Nadar, was appointed chairperson of the $10-billion IT services company. Started by her father in 1976, HCL now commands a market cap of over $30 billion. The 39-year-old is the first woman chairperson of a top-tier Indian IT services company.

First Published:Mar 8, 2021 5:44 PM IST