Search the Internet          Tips  Sites: Finance, Investment

HSBC's Naina Kidwai among world's most influential biz people

Naina Lal Kidwai, investment banking guru of HSBC Bank in India, has been named one of the world's top 15 "business influentials" for 2002 by American news magazine Time.

Kidwai, 45, the first Indian woman to graduate from Harvard Business School in 1982, has established herself as one of India's best bankers, a shrewd negotiator with a talent for anticipating new sectors of growth, the magazine said.

Kidwai told 'Time' that she has no plans to leave India. "In the US, I may have brokered bigger deals, but here, it's much more at the cutting edge of reform, the ability to influence, to shape."

Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation chose Kidwai when it wanted to expand investment-banking presence in India. She had made her name at Morgan Stanley, which she joined in 1994, after helping to create one of the largest joint ventures in the industry with investment bank JM Financials.

Earlier she had a stint at ANZ Grindlay's Bank.

Aggressively pursuing opportunities in technology, she helped nab the accounts of Wipro and Infosys, among others, and brokered a joint venture between AT&T and Birla and Tata, to create a cellular phone service throughout India, the magazine said.

Time chose the 15 'influentials' from among more than 100 executives nominated by its correspondents around the world. Others selected include Richard Barton, founder and CEO of Expedia; Carla Cico, CEO of Brasil Telecom; Guerrino De Luca, CEO of Logitech International; Herbert Demel, Chief of Magna Steyr; Robert Kazutomo Hori, CEO of Cybird and Sallie Krawcheck, CEO of Citi's new Smith Barney unit.

ALSO READ:
More Money Headlines