Meet Chitra Ramakrishana, lady behind the NSE

July 11, 2014: Chitra Ramakrishana is one woman who knows her business in a traditionally male-oriented sector, the stock market. Sharp, hardworking and resilient, Chitra is a NSE veteran. She held various positions in National Stock Exchange like joint Managing Director, Head of Listing and Deputy Managing Director, Member of Derivatives Panel of Securities And Exchange Board Of India,Director of NSE and Member of Executive Committee at National Securities Depository. In 2013, Chitra Ramakrishana was appointed as the first woman managing director and chief executive officer of the National Stock Exchange, a break from its past tradition and a great boost to women at work at the stock exchange.

Starting out as a CA, Ramakrishnan joined IDBI bank in 1985. It was here that SS Nadkarni, former IDBI chairman, selected her as a part of the team to set up NSE from scratch and create a counterforce to the powerful Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Ramkrishna has been able to push revenues across the border by exporting the Nifty ETF and other index derivative products, which now trade in 32 different destinations on international stock exchanges.

Her peers and seniors constantly praise her for her work. “What made her stand out is her passion and commitment, and her ability to understand complex issues which have the potential to transform the securities market. Besides, she did not have any baggage about what an exchange should be and that helped a lot," said a story in Forbes India.

She is said to be much grounded in real life. For her commendable work, Ramakrishnan has received awards and accolades from various organizations. The Business Leadership Awards by the Forbes magazine recently chose her to be the woman of the year. Apart from ranking 17th in the list of top global women business leaders by Fortune Magazine, she he has also featured in the list of top 30 women achievers by the Business Today group consecutively since last two years.

She has said that she wishes to make NSE a vehicle for the financial well-being of people in India.

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