Ajay Banga, Chanda Kochar, Deepak Narula among Fortune’s top 50 businesspersons
20 Nov 2012
Ajay Banga, the Indian-born chief executive of MasterCard, and ICICI Bank chairman Chanda Kochhar have been named by Fortune magazine among the top 50 top businesspersons in the world by Fortune magazine.
Deepak Narula, founder and managing partner of hedge fund firm Metacapital Management, is the third Indian on the list.
Fortune's '2012 Businesspersons of the Year' list is topped by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos, with Apple chief executive Tim Cook coming in at the second place.
Banga, 52 ranks eighth in the list, while Kochhar is in 18th position, one notch ahead of billionaire philanthropist Warren Buffet. Narula ranks 36th.
Fortune said investors have so far been impressed with Banga's performance at the helm of MasterCard.
"Since Banga took the helm two years ago, MasterCard's stock has more than doubled, outperforming archrival Visa," it said, adding that the former Citigroup executive wants MasterCard to be a leader in the mobile payments revolution.
Banga's other successful tactic is focussing on pre-paid cards in emerging markets such as Mexico, South Africa and Brazil, a major reason why MasterCard now generates 60 per cent of its revenues outside the US.
On Kochhar, 51, Fortune said a bullish outlook through the recession helped her direct India's second largest bank, which has assets of $93 billion, to a "standout performance".
