Naina Kidwai among global influentials 2002

Wednesday, 27 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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WASHINGTON: Time magazine and CNN have chosen ten young executives, including India's Naina Lal Kidwai, as Global Business Influentials for 2002. They were selected from more than 100 nominees put forward by Time correspondents around the world. Each of the 10 up-and-comers selected have accomplished something this year that transcended borders. They hail from 11 countries but share a sense that the world is their market - and their home. All of them are regarded as leaders in their industries. But their biggest achievements, even for the CEOs among them, may lie ahead. Hailing Naina Lal Kidwai as an investment-banking guru, Time magazine said that when HSBC decided to expand its investment-banking presence in India, it needed someone to lead the charge. Not surprisingly, it chose Kidwai. She has the honour of being the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School in 1982. Kidwai, 45, has established herself as one of India's best bankers, a shrewd negotiator with a talent for anticipating new sectors of growth. Kidwai made her name at Morgan Stanley, which she joined in 1994 after a stint at ANZ Grindlay's Bank. At the time, Morgan's operations in India were relatively small. She engineered a joint venture with investment bank JM Financials, making the resulting firm one of the largest in that industry in India. The magazine said she also aggressively pursued opportunities in technology, nabbing the accounts of Wipro and Infosys, among others, and brokered a joint venture between AT&T and two conglomerates, owned by the Birla and Tata families, to create a telecom company offering cellular service throughout India. According to the magazine, Kidwai said she had no plans to leave India. "In the U.S., I may have brokered bigger deals, but here, it's much more at the cutting edge of reform, the ability to influence, to shape."
Source: IANS