Shikha Sharma, 

It’s been a tough year for Sharma, who had to steer a bank heavily dependent on corporate loans through the slowdown. Unsurprisingly, she managed to do that, even as she set (and met) an aggressive target for retail reach: 1,677 ATMs were added, and 455 domestic branches were opened, of which 298 were in unbanked areas. Having done around 1.9 million transactions amounting to Rs 86 crore, these new branches helped Axis become the No. 1 bank in Aadhaar-related payments. Sharma also increased the employee count by 4,519 to push the bank’s presence across the country. Axis has beaten analyst expectations in the last few quarters. However, the growth of bad loans hasn’t helped investor confidence, and valuations are still low. (Last year, impaired assets accounted for 14% of net worth.) Sharma hopes that FY15 will ease the pressure on Axis Bank’s debtors, especially small and medium-sized businesses. Meanwhile, she has begun gearing up by raising capital. Though she has set up a branch in Shanghai to build and grow the foreign exchange business, Sharma’s focus continues to be domestic clients.