Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani named the most powerful businesswoman in Asia by Forbes

Forbes’ Power Businesswomen 2016 list

Reliance Foundation Chairperson Nita Ambani has been named the most powerful businesswoman in Asia by Forbes, leading a list of 50 women leaders from the region that includes eight from India.

SBI Chairman and Managing Director Arundhati Bhattacharya has been ranked second on the 2016 'Asia's 50 Power Businesswomen' list that features trailblazing women from China, Indonesia, Australia, Vietnam, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, the Philippines and New Zealand.

Apart from Nita Ambani and Arundhati Bhattacharya, 6 women from India have made to the list -
1. Nita Ambani (No. 1)
2. Arundhati Bhattacharya (No. 2)
3. Ambiga Dhiraj (No. 14)
4. Dipali Goenka (No. 16)
5. Vinita Gupta (No. 18)
6. Chanda Kochhar (No. 22)
7. Vandana Luthra (No. 26)
8. Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw (No. 28)


The list acknowledges the "inroads women are making in the business world but gender inequality persists. Women are best positioned to know what it will take to get more of them into commanding roles in the workforce and keep them there," Forbes said.

Describing her as the "first lady of Indian business", Forbes said Mrs Ambani, 52, is a "power near the throne" and makes her debut on the list because of her rising profile in Reliance Industries, led by her husband and India's richest man Mukesh Ambani.

"In a country where billionaire wives tend to remain in the shadow of their husbands, Nita's rising profile in the Reliance empire is unusual and earns her a debut spot," on the power businesswomen ranking this year, Forbes said of Mrs Ambani, who is also Director of Reliance Industries.