5 Indians Who Influence Global Finance

Global finance is not 'One Man's Army'. It is led and influenced by many tycoons who can move and shake the Indian corporate world to a great extent. Their hard core knowledge about markets and their experience in the business world for long can make them shape companies, governments and economies.

Here is the list of most influential Indians in Global Finance:

1. Mukesh Ambani:

The business tycoon needs no special introduction. He is the 9th richest man in the world and is the Chairman and MD of Indian conglomerate Reliance Industries. He owns the largest private sector enterprise in India. The man made headlines with his worth $2 billion home which is the most expensive home in the world. The Reliance Group covers different sectors under one umbrella, from textiles to production of oil and gas and petrochemicals. The company employs around 23,365 people. Mukesh is been honored by many awards over the years and the best being the Global Vision Award by Asia Society. Only Indian to be a part of the United Nations MDG Advocacy Group. RIL last year joint ventured with DE Shaw, a global investment and technology development firm to offer comprehensive array of financial services to the Indian marketplace. The group would look at serving both corporate and individual customers through its financial services offerings.

2. Chanda Kochhar:

MD and CEO of India's largest private bank, ICICI. Chanda Kochhar has helped shape the bank's ever-evolving strategy. Having started out at ICICI as a management trainee in 1984, today she is ICICI Bank's joint MD and the CEO of the company. Earlier this year she won the Padma Bhushan award, the Indian government's highest civilian honour. In 2009, she landed the number 20 spot in the Forbes World's 100 Most Powerful Women list. She was the first to try the strategy of moving from corporate banking to retail banking about ten years ago. "The biggest challenge for me, for all of us, was that the consumer-credit market was very, very new for India and for ICICI. I was trying to create something that was not just new for me but absolutely unknown to the organization and the country as a whole." Chanda said. In mid-2000 she led ICICI bank's foray into the retail industry.
3. Ratan Tata:

The Tata Group chairman runs India's biggest conglomerate, which ranges from cooking salt to luxury Jaguar cars. Known to have increased revenue for the group 12-fold to $76 billion since he took to the lead in 1991, Tata is also a member of the Prime Minister's Council on Trade and Industry. He has been responsible for the acquisition of Tetley, Jaguar Land Rover and Corus, which have turned Tata from a largely India-centric company into a global business, with 65 percent revenues coming from abroad.
4. Vikram Pandit:

Vikram Pandit is an Indian-born American executive and the current CEO of Citigroup. He joined Morgan Stanley as an associate in 1983, one of the first Indians to join the company. Vikram Pandit had assumed the CEO hat when Citigroup was going through some tumultuous times. He had pledged in 2009 to take home an annual salary of $1 until the Citigroup gets back to its feet. In May 2011, after posting five consecutive quarterly profits Citigroup announced a $23.2 million retention award to Pandit making him one of the highest paid CEOs. Vikram Pandit can be solely credited to turning the U.S. bank around and for its rising-from-the-ashes phenomenon. He put in ideas like selling off assets, cutting staff, focusing on its core businesses, including investment banking and retail banking for affluent customers globally.
5. Anshu Jain:

Anshuman is a financier of Indian descent. Deutsche Bank has appointed Anshu Jain as the co-CEO in July 2011 who takes on the responsibilities form 2012. Anshuman 48, the head of Deutsche Bank's investment banking division based in London, will take over the leadership of Germany's largest bank together with his management board colleague, Juergen Fitschen. Anshu received Risk Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award in 2010, as well as the annual Business Leader Award from NASSCOM. He is a 2005 recipient of the American Indian Foundation's Achievement Award for philanthropy and ongoing involvement in development. The man who loves tigers has become one of Germany's most powerful men. As the head of its investment banking division, he has already been responsible for Deutsche Bank's most profitable and controversial businesses, which led the world into a financial crisis and to the brink of ruin.