Former State Bank of India (SBI) chairwoman Arundhati Bhattacharya was appointed as Wipro's independent director on Wednesday, taking the tally of her board seats to four in the corporate world.

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Bhattacharya, who retired as chairperson of SBI, on October 6 2017, completed the one-year cooling-off period on October 6, 2018.

The 62-year-old veteran banker joined private equity company Chrys Capital Advisors LLP on October 10, 2018 as an advisor. Soon after, CRISIL appointed her as an additional director on October 16, 2018.

The next day, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) appointed Bhattacharya as the independent additional director of their company.

Additionally, just before the expiration of her cooling off period, the government appointed her to head the Lokpal Search Committee, along with Prasar Bharti chief A Surya Prakash.

Here's what you should know about the veteran banker:

Bhattacharya did her post-graduation from Kolkata's Jadavpur University in English and graduation from the same in Lady Brabourne College.

She completed her schooling from St. Xavier's School, Bokaro.

She is an associate of the Indian Institute of Bankers.

According to a report by Times of India, Bhattacharya is likely to join billionaire Piramal's financial services business as well.

Bhattacharya was the first woman chairperson of India's largest public sector lender, SBI.

She joined the bank in 1977 as a direct recruit officer. During her 40-year period in the bank, she served in metros as well as urban and rural areas.

She played a pivotal role in setting up several new companies and initiatives of the bank, including SBI General Insurance, SBI Macquarie Infrastructure Fund and SBI SG Global Securities Services and helped in launching SBI's mobile banking forum.

Forbes magazine has ranked her 25th in their list of "most powerful women in the world" and fifth in "the most powerful women in finance" category in 2016.

Bhattacharya has also been featured in the Fortune list of top 50 globally most powerful women in business and ranked among the top five in the Asia-Pacific region.

Disclosure: Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com, is controlled by Independent Media Trust, of which Reliance Industries is the sole beneficiary.

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First Published:Oct 25, 2018 1:37 PM IST