Kaku Nakhate, 

It’s been just one year since Nakhate joined Bank of America Merrill Lynch in India but she’s making waves. In the biggest overnight block deal in Asia, she advised Cairn India’s $2.1 billion transaction for Petronas. Under her leadership, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has provided book running, lending, and other financial services for big-ticket deals such as the Aditya Birla Group’s $875 million acquisition of Columbian Chemicals, Coal India’s IPO in the U.S., and the ESPN Software escrow account for the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup collections. She has also ramped up the team by adding senior management and has revived the corporate banking business. “When I took the job, I wasn’t a natural corporate banker; I’d mostly handled global markets and equity capital markets,” she says. “A year later, I can say my mindset’s changed and I can think out of the box.” Her power to evolve makes her one of the most powerful women in India’s financial sector.