1. Indu Jain – Chairperson of Bennet, Coleman (Times of India) 

Indu Jain, one of the most successful and influential entrepreneurs in the country, was born in Faizabad, Uttar Pradesh. She is also a multi-faceted personality and a woman who has good taste in art and culture. 

Hailing from a cultural state, one can surely expect from where this love for art and culture has come right? She is the Chairwoman of Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd. This company is the one which owns the country’s leading newspaper ‘The Times of India.’ 

She was awarded the second-highest civilian award of the country, Padma Bhushan in 2016. This award got conferred to her by the Indian Government for contributions in the field of media, art, and culture. 

With a net worth of around 3.1 billion U.S dollars, Indu Jain was at the 57th place of the Forbes list of ‘Richest Person in India’ for 2015.

 

2. Indra Nooyi – Chairwoman of PepsiCo

Indra Nooyi is 63 years old. Even at such a sovereign age, she is still one of the most energetic entrepreneurs in our country. Though she is well known among the society as the CEO and Chairwoman of Pepsico India, she is also one of the board of directors at Amazon. 

She holds a master’s degree from Yale University in the field of public management. She also has a degree in marketing and finance from the Indian Institute of Management, Kolkata. She was associated with many well-known brands such as Motorola and Asea Brown before starting her successful stint at Pepsico India. 

She is truly a gem of our country and has inspired many women and will continue to encourage them among their generations. When you open the list of ‘100 Most Powerful Women in the World’, Indira Nooyi is the name which has appeared continuously and consistently for many years. 

 

3. Kiran Mazumdar Shaw – Founder of Biocon Limited

Another noteworthy personality in the field of women entrepreneurs, Kiran Mazumdar, did her schooling from Bishop Cotton Girl’s High School, Bangalore. She studied biology and zoology from the prestigious Mount Carmel’s College in the same city. 

No wonder, why years later she has become a prominent personality in the field of biotechnology right? She is currently the Managing Director and the Chairwoman of Biocon Limited, a biopharmaceutical company which gets based in Bangalore. 

The noteworthy attribute of Mrs. Shaw is that she was swift in starting her own company. She got graduated in 1973, and she started the company in 1978. Within a short span of 5 years, starting a company of such high stature is a commendable job. 

Biocon Limited was an industrial enzyme manufacturing company during its initial years. But later under the generous leadership of Mrs. Shaw, it has fully grown up to one of the prominent biopharmaceutical companies in the world. 

The primary focus of the company lies in bringing up the solutions and cures to prominent diseases and ailments such as cancer, plague, and diabetes, which are growing into a vast number in our country. 

 

4. Vandana Luthra – Founder of VLCC

If making big in the field of entrepreneurship is kept as a subject, then Vandana Luthra will be the prime topic for which the highest weight age will be given. Such is the range of success, Vandana Luthra has acquired in this field. 

Born in the capital of our country, New Delhi Vandana Luthra completed her graduation from the city’s Polytechnic for Women in 1959. The Polytechnic field fascinated her because of which she toured into countries like France, U.K, and Germany to acquire some more necessary information on topics such as food, beauty, fitness, and nutrition. 

After acquiring all the necessary information, she founded the wellness and beauty giant VLCC in the year 1989, when her daughter was just born. 

Vandana wanted to break the shackles of homemaker life and wanted to do something new and unique. This attribute was the main reason for her starting VLCC. 

Because of her sheer determination and diligence, she got awarded the third-highest civilian award of the country, Padma Shri in 2013. She was also identified as the 33rd Most Powerful Female by Entrepreneur by Fortune India later in the same year.

 

5. Priya Paul – Chairwoman, Park Hotels

Priya Paul has a bachelor’s degree in Economics which she acquired from USA’s Wellesley College. Currently, at 51 years of age, she is still an inspiration for most of the women in our country who want to engrave a path of their own. 

Priya Paul is the Chairwoman of the exquisite Park Hotels. She got awarded the third-highest civilian award of our country, Padma Shri by the Government of India in 2012.  

 

6. Ritu Kumar – World Famous Fashion Designer

Ritu Kumar, an eminent fashion designer, was born in the cultural city of Amritsar in the year 1944. To complete her schooling, her family shifted to Shimla, where she did her education from Loreto Convent. She later moved to New Delhi and completed her pre-university from the prominent Lady Irwin College. 

She was a rare personality amongst the girls of her age, as she took museology as a subject to study. To study museology, she enrolled herself at the Ashutosh Museum of Indian Art.

Today, she is one of the famous and influential names in our country’s fashion industry. She was hugely successful and is profoundly renowned for creating a unique market for her brand. Her brand encloses numerous types of dress wear, including evening formals, designer ethnic wear, traditional wear, and swimwear. 

Her designs created history by winning the Miss India Pageants three times in a row. Because of her unique and selfless contributions to the field of culture, she was awarded the third-highest civilian award Padma Shri by the Indian Government in the year 2013.  

7. Shahnaz Husain – CEO of Shahnaz Herbals

Shahnaz Hussain completed her schooling from the prominent La Martiniere School in Lucknow and later went to study Queen Mary’s in Allahabad for further studies. Shahnaz was profoundly fascinated to learn cosmetology and cosmetic therapy. 

She went on to learn it from leading Western institutions which included Christine Valmy, Lean of Copenhagen, Lancome, Schwarzkopf, and Helena Rubinstein. She is the most popular name when it comes to the field of Indian herbal cosmetics industry. She is also the CEO of Shahnaz Herbals Inc. the company started by her after acquiring all necessary knowledge on cosmetology. 

Her company is vastly huge and has over 400 franchise clinics across the world. She is not only one of the most influential women in our country but also all over the world. Her contributions to the field of skin and cosmetics industry led her to receive the third-highest civilian award of the country Padma Shri from the Indian Government in the year 2006.

 

8. Suchi Mukherjee – Founder & CEO of Limeroad

Suchi Mukherjee, the eminent personality who started her own company by the name of Limeroad, is also currently serving as its CEO. Before starting her own company Limeroad, Suchi extensively worked with other eminent companies such as eBay, Skype, and Gumtree. 

She is currently the chief and marketable name because of which people are getting associated with Limeroad. Suchi Mukherjee is an economics graduate who actually to pursue an entrepreneurial career pursued her master’s degree in finance and economics from prominent London School of Economics. 

She partnered with her colleagues Ankush Mehra, Prashanth Malik, and Manish Saksena in the year 2012 and started her company Limeroad. 

 

9. Richa Kar – Co-founder of Zivame

Every one of you would have heard the name Zivame, right? Yes, the leading lingerie giant of the country. Do you know the co-founder of Zivame is a woman? Yes, an efficient and influential woman by the name Richa Kar. She was born in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand. 

Richa did her engineering in the year 2002, from the prominent college in our country, BITS, Pilani. After her engineering, Richa went ahead and acquired her master’s degree in management and studies from the eminent Narsee Monji Institute of Management Studies in the year 2007. 

 

10. Aditi Gupta – Founder of Menstrupedia

Aditi Gupta is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Menstrupedia. Indian society suffers from a lot of taboos, and the prominent one among them is menstruation. Though in the past several people have come forward and to talk about it, the matter has still not received the reach it wanted to. 

Nowadays, many youths have come forward and have started to spearhead the matter so that it reaches each part of the country. One of those youth is Aditi Gupta. She has begun a start-up by the name Menstrupedia, which is, a crowd-funded initiative, and has partnered with Tuhin Paul, a colleague of hers. 

Her primary initiative lies in providing the relevant and necessary information to women on how to stay healthy during their menstrual days. She also offers essential methods and educates people on practicing sanitary habits during their menstruation cycles.