Shikha Sharma; a hand that rocks ICICI group

A couple of months ago, Shikha Sharma was in the limelight after being awarded with The Economic Times businesswoman of the year 2008. She is now in the spotlight again but for a different reason ��� that she is likely to leave the ICICI group.

Ms Sharma has neither confirmed nor denied reports of her quitting the group. If Ms Sharma does move on, it will be a loss not just for ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, which she heads, but for the insurance industry as she has been one of the driving forces behind the Life Insurance Council. The council has helped the industry find common cause in reform even as companies actively competed against one another. One of the reasons for Ms Sharma���s solid reputation in the industry is on account of her forthright nature, which has inspired confidence among her peers. The other reason is that she is the only CEO to have been with the industry since the day it was thrown open to competition.

There is a probability that Ms Sharma���s ties with the company she nurtured could be stronger than her desire for change. But that has not stopped financial circles from speculating on what her next move could be. One possibility is Axis Bank, originally promoted by Unit Trust of India. The process for appointment of a CEO for the bank in place of the present chairman PJ Nayak, who retires in July, has entered the last lap. Other than Ms Sharma, the top contender for the post is said to be Hemant Kaul, Axis Bank���s executive director. The bank appears to be split between these two candidates with

Mr Nayak backing Mr Kaul and a section of the board being in favour of Ms Sharma. Axis,the third largest private sector bank, has seen its net profit grow by 30% year-on-year in 34 of the past 36 quarters and over 60% in the past six quarters.

Towards the end of the previous year, Ms Sharma, along with other senior group officials, was considered for the CEO���s post at ICICI Bank. Ms Sharma is believed to have lost out because she had earlier been very vocal about staying with the insurance company and not getting back into the bank. The bank���s board chose Chanda Kochhar, joint MD and CFO, to take the baton from KV Kamath.

Like her senior colleague, Kaplana Morparia, who quit ICICI group last year to head JP Morgan India, Mr Sharma has been a career ICICI Banker. She started her career in the erstwhile ICICI in 1980, straight out of IIM Ahmedabad. She has worked in various divisions of ICICI ��� project finance, corporate planning and resource raising. She was also involved in setting up ICICI Securities, then a joint venture between ICICI and JP Morgan. She also served as MD of ICICI Personal Financial Services, which was responsible for all retail-asset products. At 49, time is still on her side.