Shikha Sharma

Shikha Sharma (born 19 November 1958) is an Indian economist and banker.

Shikha Sharma was born on 19 November 1958.

Her father served in the Indian Army, reaching the rank of brigadier in the ordnance corps and fought in the 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistani wars.

Due to his military service, Shikha grew up across the country, attending seven schools in as many cities.

She graduated from the Loreto Convent School in Delhi.

Despite an interest in studying physics, she graduated with a BA (Honours) in Economics from the Lady Shri Ram College in Delhi and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad.

She also earned a post-graduate diploma in Software Technology from the National Centre for Software Technology in Bombay.

After graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, Shikha Sharma joined ICICI Ltd. in 1980.

During her 29-year tenure with the group, she worked with K. V. Kamath and former Prudential plc CEO Mark Tucker.

She was instrumental in setting up ICICI Securities – a joint venture between ICICI and J.P. Morgan, besides setting up various group businesses for ICICI, including investment banking and retail finance.

She also launched a “micro-insurance” product that offered life insurance at just $1 a month.

She served as the Managing Director and CEO of ICICI Personal Financial Services from May 1998 to December 2000; and as the Managing Director and CEO of the ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company from December 2000 to June 2009.

She was the managing director and CEO of Axis Bank from 2009 to 2018.

She also worked for nearly thirty years at the ICICI Group, across its bank and insurance companies.

Sharma's appointment as Managing Director and CEO for a five year term was confirmed by shareholders on 1 June 2009 with immediate effect.

She succeeded P. J. Nayak as its chairman and CEO.

She strengthened Axis Bank's retail banking division, allowing it to be relatively insulated from the economic downturn, and moving away from being predominantly being a corporate lender.

In June 2009, she stated the "Vision 2015" strategy for the bank, focusing growing retail banking to "balance the corporate business."

The share retail loans to 46% of the bank's total books during her tenure, from 21% in June 2009.

Axis Bank stock had gained over 90% since her appointment in June 2009.

In November 2010, Axis Bank announced the acquisition investment bank Enam Security in an all-stock deal valued inr 20670000000.

The bank's stock lost 5% the following date as analysts evaluated the deal to be overpriced.

In 2011, Axis Bank UK was incorporated as a subsidiary of the bank.

In April 2012, Axis Bank announced the closure of the deal after cutting the value to one-third to "reflect market conditions."

The bank also announced that it had reached an agreement with Schroder Singapore Holdings, a subsidiary of Schroders to sell a 25 per cent stake in its mutual fund subsidiary Axis Asset Management Co. Ltd. (Axis AMC).

She received a salary hike of 10 per cent in June 2013, with a basic pay of inr 19600000.

Axis Bank was ranked among the best companies to work for in a 2013 survey by Business Today.

In a 2014 interview with Tamal Bandyopadhyay, she described her relationship with Kochhar as "We were not friends but had healthy respect for each other."

The bank's compounded annual net profit growth rate was above 20 per cent in the three years ending 2014-15.

Harvard Business Review published a case study on the bank titled 'Managing Change at Axis Bank' on 28 March 2014.

In 2014, Axis Bank was awarded the "Bank of the Year in India" by The Banker.

The citation noted that the bank had a "20% growth in profit after tax during the 2014 financial year while hitting $1bn profit after tax for the first time in its history" despite a liquidity crunch in India.

The bank's net non-performing asset ratio was 1.34 per cent in March 2015, much lower than the 4.4 per cent for the banking sector as a whole.

Net profit in 2015-16 rose 18.3 per cent to inr, operating profit was up 24 per cent to inr , while net interest income grew 19 per cent to inr.

Advances grew 22 per cent and deposits were up 15 per cent during the year, both higher than the industry.

The share of low-cost current account savings account (CASA) deposits remained stable at 45 per cent, a high ratio.

In 2015, the bank was awarded a "Certificate of Recognition for excellence in Corporate Governance" from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India.

In February 2016, Axis Bank continued its international expansion and opened a representative office in Dhaka.

Sharma and Chanda Kochhar were contenders to succeed K. V. Kamath as the CEO and Managing Director of ICICI Bank in 2019.

One month after Kochhar's appointment as CEO, Sharma quit ICICI Bank to lead Axis Bank after being headhunted by Egon Zehnder.