India Inc may not have too many women CEOs but when it comes to the financial services space, there suddenly appears to be a surfeit of women at the helm.
Vishakha Mulye, MD & CEO of ICICIVenture,the venturecapital arm of the ICICI group, is among the names that have started popping up every timewomen CEOs get counted. A chartered accountant by training, Mumbai-girl Mulye has been a banker for most part of her 19 years within the ICICI group, first with ICICI and then with the bank. She took up the new assignment at the helm of the venture capital fund arm two years ago, overseeing about $2 billion of investors’ money under six funds.
Did the fact that she was a woman makeher riseup thecorporate ladder any different? “I came in when a lot of women were already there and being a woman was never a challenge,” Mulye,an avid traveller,who also loves to watch films with her family, said. The work culture in the bank, where family-related issues are given equal importance, also helps.“For instance,if a lady or a man went for a PTA, it’s not counted differently,” says Mulye, who has two kids to look after – one 14 and the other 9. It was no different when it came to the challenges as well, she says taking a sip of a Diet Coke. She counts the $5-billion fund raising (equity) issue for ICICI Bank in a record time of just 50 days as her biggest challenge. It was in 2007, just before the global financial crisis of 2008, that the ICICI Bank board approved a fund raising plan that no Indian bank had done before. For Mulye, who was the chief financial officer (CFO) of the bank then, another challenge was that 26% of the total fund raising had to be in the Indian market. Her prior experience of raising $1.8 billion in 2005 came in handy. That was in terms of scale. In terms of complexity, however, the most challenging assignment was the merger of the erstwhile ICICI with ICICI Bank in 2001, which involved combining a project finance company with a full-fledgedbank. “It was something that nobody had done before. And the RBI had told us that from Day 1, the bank had to be fully compliant with all the regulatory parameters, like CRR, SLR etc.” As the head of the core group that worked on the merger, Mulye was always on her toes.
Mulye was put on the current job soon after one of the investments at ICICI Venture went into a loop—the one involving the investments in Subhiksha, a southbased retail company which went bankrupt. Despite the controversy around that investment, ICICI Venture apparently made money on that transaction. Mulye, however, doesn’t want to talk about that one since it’s sub judice; but on a more philosophical note, she says making good decisions and bad ones are part of the VC/PE game.
“For every five good decisions, there would be one bad decision,” she says. So, does the volatile market put more pressure on her? “Creating value in a volatile market is very challenging and exciting. Downturn gives us opportunities.. And God has been very kind to me,” says Mulye, whose office in Prabhadevi in central Mumbai is just about five minutes walk from the famous Siddhivinayak temple.
Setup originally as a JVwith UTI in 1988, it came under the exclusive ICICI fold in 1998. “We have returned about $350 million to investors,” she says proudly. As for the current investment trends, urban infrastructure, healthcare, education and financial infrastructure plays are the ones Mulye is bullish on. In addition, consumption-related opportunities and strong regional plays are alsohighon her investment list.
VISHAKHA MULYE MD & CEO ICICI
Venture Career
A chartered accountant, she has been with the ICICI group for 19 years;
was the CFO of the largest private sector bank before moving to head I-venture.
Achievements
A $5-billion FPO for ICICI Bank in 50 days in 2007;
reverse merger and integration of ICICI, the erstwhile holding entity, with ICICI Bank
(TOI 22 OCT1)
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