Zia Mody is a prominent Indian legal consultant, daughter of well known Indian jurist Soli Sorabjee and is married to Jaydev Mody, Director, Peninsula Land. She was involved in Tata Steel\'s acquisition of Natsteel, Maxis\' of Aircel, and she represented Mukesh Ambani in the settlement he hammered out with his brother.

Shobhana Bhartia who heads HT Media, is the daughter of KK Birla and her grandfather is GD Birla. She married Shyam Sunder Bhartia Chairman of Jubilant Organosys. KK Birla family owns 75.36 per cent stake in HT Media.

Vedika Bhandarkar, VP of Credit Suisse is among the few physics, math and statistics undergraduates who went on to do her masters from IIM (A). She began her career at ICICI in 1989, before joining ICICI Securities in 1992. In 1993, ICICI formed a joint venture with JP Morgan. When the JV broke off in 1998, Ms Bhandarkar, along with a few of her colleagues, joined JP Morgan, going on to head the investment banking operations of JP Morgan for over 8 years.

Swati Piramal was born into a textile business family. And as typical Indian marriages were solemnized more than two decades ago, she too married into one of the oldest textile business families in Mumbai. But for Swati, a trained medical doctor from Bombay University, textiles held little charm. Her passion lay in healthcare but it took a lot of ingenuity and perseverance to convince the family to foray into health and pharmaceutical.

Naina Lal Kidwai, CEO, HSBC Bank, got her early education in Mumbai. Having noted golfer and Arjuna Award winner Nonita Lal Kidwai Qureshi for a sister inspired her to make her own mark. Vinita Bali (Britannia Industries) was among her seniors at college. She came across Mira Nair (film maker) at Harvard and they became close friends.

Chanda Kochhar, CEO of ICICI Bank, daughter of a civil-engineering school administrator in Jaipur, was 22 when she joined the erstwhile industrial finance company ICICI in 1984 as a management trainee.

Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi shares her birthday with Bill Gates on October 28. She worked as a receptionist to pay for her studies in the US and she goes to PepsiCo events in a saree.